Lidia's Brother
by Master Porky Minch
Summary: A story of my imagination. What if Lidia had a brother? What if she never died? Would the whole story be different?
1. Unexpected Reunion

Lidia's Brother

Disclaimer: There are possibly people who do not know damn well, so I don't own Tears of Tiara or any characters (except maybe the 1)

BEGIN!

The rain fell hard on the open field. Thunder continuously rumbles from the sky. The clouds are dark and menacing, as if they gloated in triumph, for in a battle they have seen yet another's life taken away. There was no light shining upon the field, as one of the fighters fell over, laying on her back. Her name was Lidia, and she was slaughtered by the hands of Octavia, a girl who used to be friends with Lidia when they were still training in the Holy Empire.

"Octavia…" she whispered in a dying voice. Even Death itself seemed to have mocked her as she, the commanding officer of the great army of Rubrum, fell to her last breath at the hands of a single warrior. "…we were perfect… real swordsman…right?"

"Yeah. It's just as you say. We were perfect. You were a true swordsman." replied Octavia. Seemingly pleased with the answer, Lidia gave one more smile, before she took her final breath. Her red eyes closed as they did when Lidia went to sleep, but this time… for good. Octavia let her sword free from her hand, knelt down, and held the now dead commander in her arms. "Lidia… this is something I've known for a while. I… loved you. And you loved me back, didn't you?" Lidia did not say anything, nor did she open her eyes as a response. The clouds were beginning to break up, and let the sunlight through. "I noticed this only after I distanced myself from the Empire." she continued. "Back then… we…" she had been trying to fight back the urge to break down and cry, but now she couldn't take it. She had just stated that she loved the very woman she had brutally cut down. "…didn't want to see each other die!" She buried her face in Lydia's white hair and began to sob openly.

She was just like a child who lost a pet. She cried like a baby, being so sad, and nothing would be able to cheer her up. Octavia loved Lidia. She loved her more than anything in the world. Every moment of her life from now on would be tainted by the memory of what she had done to her friend. She spent the rest of her time on the field shedding tears and mourning over her loss. However, if Octavia had just looked at Lidia's face, she would have discovered that she was not the only one who was crying…

"What the Hell's going on here?" shouted a man's voice from afar. Octavia looked up only to see in the distance a band of riders riding her direction. She did not recognize the small party of riders, and she was in no shape for another quick fight. So, not having much other choice, she let go of Lydia and ran away, praying the horse riders did not see her, and unbeknownst to her, they didn't catch site of her or Lydia's body. They simply stopped when they reached the field. They were riders of the Rubrum Army, fully armored and ready for the worst.

"Captain Lidio." said one of the soldiers. Each of them wore heavy armor and a helmet, so it was impossible to depict any facial or physical details about them. "Are you sure this is the right place? I-I mean, not to doubt your mastery of Dark Magic, but it just seems this isn't a sort of place she would end up." The soldier certainly showed a great amount of fear towards the captain.

The one the soldier referred to as Captain Lidio got off of his horse, and took his helmet off. He sat it on his pure-white horse, Freeze, and patted her on the mane. He then turned his face towards the soldier that had spoken to him. The man named Lidio had snow-white hair the length of Octavia's, unnaturally pale skin, as if he had never in his life taken a step into the sunlight, and 2 fiery blood-red eyes that would make even the bravest warrior, who could be known for making 1,000 bloodbaths and genocides everyday, shrink away in fear. However, the most haunting and blood-chilling of his facial features lay from the right of his forehead all the way down to the right of his pale lips. There, on those areas and what was in between, was a large, obviously infected scar he got when he was but a child. The scar itself was mostly black, as if there was nothing in there but a hole. The skin around it was tainted purple, as if to show all the countless number of times it had been infected. His wound would never heal, so even if the infection in his scar were to have been gotten rid of, there would only be another one waiting to remind Lidio of all the painful things he had to endure as a child.

"When my Dark Magic tells me something is wrong with somebody I care about, it also tells me there exact location, and who it is, and it tells me that she is here, and she is in danger." he said in a voice that had gentleness enough to send a crying baby too sleep, but also with enough power to get what ever he wanted to say through everybody's skulls. Nobody in the Holy Empire had to ask why others were so frightened of Lidio after they finally meet him. With a height of 6'5", eyes of the Devil himself, and especially that ugly, God-awful scar on his face, he was the very embodiment of fear. Many people who had the worst of luck to fight him and somehow survive would describe him as a demon brought to this world to cause misery and sorrow. Many who just look at him would say he is intimidation personified. And yet, very few people who truly see another's eyes as windows to the soul can look at Lidio's eyes, and they only see a traumatized and inflicted soul who only desires to have someone let him know they care about him. And anyone who believes this is, by definition, completely correct.

Although Lidio shoots his arrows at many men, slashes his sword through his enemies' guts, and pillages and loots every city that is not under the control of Rubrum, he also hides a gentle side where he wants nothing more than the knowledge that he is able to protect everyone that he cares about. This very side of him, the side he usually refused to show given his horrible and hellish childhood, is what drove him to find the commander, even when a code of his was to leave the dead. He slowly walked up to the soldier and said, "I disobeyed all orders given to me, and broke one of my many vows as a captain of the army just so I can find her, so you better have no doubts that she is here. On that happy note, soldiers! Find Commander Lidia!" All of the other horsemen dismounted there horses and joined Lidio in the search for their commander. The sun once again hid behind the dark ominous clouds in the sky, possibly making the search for Lidia even harder.

"But captain, you felt that signal of yours minutes ago. For all you know, Commander Lidia is dead!" another soldier said as he followed Captain Lidio, who was turning his head to and fro, searching for Lidia, only stopping when his fellow soldier finished speaking.

"Don't you dare say such words! Though we are not sure whether she is alive or not, I will not listen to my own fellow garrison lose hope that she is still alive! Do I make myself clear?" Lidio said as he held his combat knife against the soldier's neck.

"Captain Lidio! We found her!" shouted one of the knights 30 ft away. "I don't think she's breathing!" This news alarmed Lidio, and he immediately ran over to the source of the voice, to see a circle of warriors looking at a body. Lidio's eyes began to well up as he saw Lidia's body. She wasn't breathing, she had a huge slash mark on her stomach and along with blood, her intestines began to slip out a tad. The other soldiers backed up and gave Lidio some room, as he knelt down, and raised Lidia's head a bit.

"Commander Lidia, we have to go." he said, but there was no response. "…Commander?...Lidia?...s-sister?..." his heart broke as once again, she didn't answer. He held part of her body against his chest, as he cried over the body. Lidio was Lidia's younger brother, and Lidia was the only one that really at all times cared for Lidio. He continued to cry until he heard a faint breathing sound. He was surprised to see that her once motionless chest was going up and down. "Oh dear God, she's still alive." he whispered to himself. He picked Lidia up, and began to walk away.

"Captain, where are you going?" asked one of the soldiers. Lidio answered him by telling them that Lidia was still alive and that he was never going to serve the army of Rubrum until he knew his sister was completely safe and ok. The others did not quite approve of Lidio leaving the army for God knows how long just for 1 girl, but none of them protested, and simply just let Lidio walk off, his sister's body hanging over his shoulder and his hand guiding Freeze to wherever he was going.

Lidia lay on the soft bed, sleeping peacefully and quietly, as if nothing in the world could bug her. She was having a dream, a dream about her and Octavia.

IN THE DREAM:

_Lidia snuck all around the barracks, trying to avoid being seen by anybody else. She was only 10-years-old, and though she was under the training of one of the knights of the Holy Empire, she, along with her friend, Octavia, were not quite the best fighters of all the trainees in the Empire. In her hand, she had a plate full of food that she was trying to sneak over to Octavia's room. Octavia had disobeyed her teacher's orders, and their teacher was quite one for punishment. First, he had Octavia whipped on the back 10 times, and then he isolated her in her room, telling her that she wouldn't be having anything for dinner tonight. Lidia had seen the lashes she got, how they sent chunks of her skin and blood flying, and the tears Octavia had cried, begging for the torture to be finished. "Please stop! I'm sorry I disobeyed your orders! Please stop it!" were her exact words, and her begging only made her teacher whip her even harder. While everyone else silently scolded and mocked her behind her back, Lidia felt nothing but pity for her. She had just made it to the door of her friend's room, and she was just about to knock on it with her free hand._

_ "What are you doing?" a voice right behind her asked. Her heart began to pound as she looked behind her. She sighed with relief to see that the voice was only that of her younger brother, Lidio. He was only 8-years-old, and he was already 4'11", making him the tallest trainee at his age. He was letting his snow-white hair grow out, which had many people actually mistaking him for a girl (not that he didn't make anyone at his age pay every time they made a crack about his long hair)._

_ "Oh, uh.. I was just going to get some food for…" almost immediately, she noticed that thing on his face. That small chasm of a scar, almost looking as if bugs could venture in to it like a cave (and often, some did) was beginning to tint the skin around it an ugly purple. "Lidio! What happened to your face? Why is it turning purple?" she whispered in an extremely worried voice._

_ "Got infected." Lidio bluntly informed her. "My teacher noticed it before even I did, and he was so freaking disgusted he sent me over to the medic to check on it. The infection will heal overtime, but the scar never will. This means the minute this infection takes off, another one will be moving in. But on the bright news, the infection somehow is boosting my intimidation." Lidia could only chuckle slightly as she tried to process what he had just said. Even without the infection, his scar, along with his burning red eyes, made him one intimidating boy for the other kids. But now he was talking about the infection making grown men who were trained to be the best swordsmen out there piss themselves in fear. "Now back to __my__ question, please?"_

_ Lidia sighed, and whispered to her little brother, "Octavia is under punishment, so I can't be seen bringing this to her. That's why nobody else is to know what I am doing." She continued on with her mission._

_ "You 2 really are a one-of-a-kind pair of friends." Lidio snickered before he simply walked off as if nothing had just happened. Lidia trusted her little brother, and loved him over anyone else in her family, but sometimes, even she, his older sister, would become frightened of him. If there was one thing Lidio knew how to do, it was how to be incomprehensibly unpredictable. On most occasions, when there's something people don't want anyone else to gain knowledge of, and he finds out, he'll just keep it to himself, and most people who had Lidio overhear their secrets don't even know he knows them. And on other times, he will come up with the most sadistic and twisted ways to show it, even though nobody ever figures out what he's trying to do. But it wasn't just in secrets he was very elusive. There were a few times during training where he defeated his sparring partners with literally both hands tied behind his back (and his arms tied as well, just so he's not tempted)._

_ Lidia gently knocked on the door, so no one else would hear, opened the door slowly, and crept into her friends room, where she found Octavia, laying down on her bed, in nothing but her undergarments. Lidia's eyes widened a little bit, she began to breathe a little harder, and her heart began to race a bit. She had no knowledge as to why she was feeling the way she did. But she kept to her objective. She gently poked Octavia on the shoulder. "Psst. Octavia, wake up." Octavia woke up with a start, looking around, until she fixed her eyes directly on Lidia._

_ "What are you doing here?! You know how much trouble you'll be in if you're caught!" she whispered harshly. Lidia didn't seem too bothered with Octavia's accidental hostility._

_ "Listen. I thought you would be hungry, so I snuck in a bit of food for you." she answered, holding out the plate of food. Octavia was a little reluctant at first, but she eventually took the plate and began to eat. As Octavia was eating, Lidia got up to leave._

_ "Don't go yet." said Octavia, looking at her with the most adorable eyes ever. "Stay here for a little bit." Lidia looked into her eyes and saw that she was serious. Not wanting to upset her, she stayed until Octavia finished her food, which Lidia took the plate and left. When she exited the room, she found Lidio still standing there, only his back was turned. He faced her, and gave her his most psychopathic smile ever._

Lidia woke up with a start, sweating small amounts as she tried to put her mind on her dream. It actually, happened, except for the part with Lidio. When she snuck out of the room, Lidio had already left. What did her dream mean? Then she finally decided to find out where she was. She was lying on a mattress (probably the most comfortable thing she slept on in years), and she was under a blanket. She discovered that she was stripped down to her undergarments, as she tried to figure out what was going on. Everything came back to her when she saw a few bandages wrapped around her stomach. The fight with Octavia, what she last heard from Octavia, everything. It was then that she saw a head full of long white hair. "Octavia?" she asked, feeling stupid, since Octavia had blonde hair. The figure sat up, and turned its face to look at her. When it did, Lidia was greeted with a hideous, yet all-too familiar scar.

P.M: FINALLY! One chapter done!

Lidio: Yeah but understand there'll be a lot more Pig King.

P.M: Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Anyways, it's time for my question!

Q: In the world of cartoons, it's safe to say that many shows that were great at one time eventually came tumbling down. If I were to pick 1 show that definitely went from great to shitty, it would be a tie between Yugioh and Pokemon. I think I speak for many when I say they that they ruined those 2 shows. Tell me one of your old favorite shows that now you just can't stand.

Lidio: For me, it's Spongebob Squarepants. I can honestly say-

P.M: You're a fictional character not even in the anime. Who gives a fuck about what you think?


	2. Blood for Blood

Lidia's Brother

Chap. 2

P.M: OK everyone. Sorry for not contributing recently, but here's another chapter.

Lidio: OK, but before you start, I'd suggest you give people a warning when you change scenes.

P.M: I am. I'm putting a line between every scene change.

Lidio: I know, but the thing is, they're not showing up on the site.

P.M: What? Let me see!... Shit! You're right! Alright, now I got to fix that problem too.

Lidia and Lidio just sat and stared at each other for a long time. Neither of them moved. Neither of them spoke. They just simply stared at the other in utter silence. It was almost like a dream to Lidia. She hadn't seen her little brother since he was sent to a war many people claimed that nobody would survive if they went there. She always wondered what day it would be when Lidio finally came back. In all honesty, neither of the 2 siblings really enjoyed being a part of Rubrum. In fact, Lidio probably wouldn't even care if the entire Holy Empire was struck by fires from the heavens and Hell itself breaks loose to destroy it. The only reason Lidio was in the army was because his mother sent both of them to be trained under the Empire. That was the day after Lidio got his scar.

Lidia could always remember the days before Lidio got that scar; before he was sent to the army; before he transformed into the cold, brutal warrior he was today. Back then Lidio was always happy to see Lidia, and he always had the most adorable smile ever when she came by. Now, Lidia couldn't even remember the last time she caught him smiling. None of her training friends could tell her when they saw him with a smile on his pale face if she had asked them when she was much younger. It was almost as if Lidio had in all way, shape, and form, forgot how to smile. Lidia wondered if he could ever be happy again…

"So, you're finally awake." said Lidio finally. He kept his eyes straight at Lidia's. "You know, you gave me quite a scare, sis. For a minute there, everyone thought you were dead." He walked closer to the bed she was lying on and knelt down. "I'm not completely sure if you know, but for at least a good minute or so, you really were dead." Lidia attempted to get up, but only made it to the sitting position before she felt a huge burning sensation at her stomach, like someone took a heated knife and slashed her open. "No." said Lidio as he put his hand on her shoulder. "You need to stay relaxed." Lidia took a moment to look at her brother, and wrapped her arms around him.

"Lidio! I'm so happy to see you!" she said as she sat there, holding her little brother, one of the only things that made her life worth living. Lidio eventually put one hand on her head and held her closer to him. He never felt such a serene, undying comfort. It was as if everything in the world just let him be. "What happened to me?" Lidia asked as she let go of Lidio and positioned herself on the bed again.

Lidio's eyes broke contact with hers, and looked at her middle torso. After seeing this, Lidia got the hint that her little brother wanted her to look where he was looking. She looked down, finally noticing that not only was she in nothing but her undergarments, but she also had some kind of white bandage wrapped around her stomach. "Had a pretty bad wound in the stomach, you did." said Lidio, both of their eyes looking back at each other. "Your entire mid-section was literally cut wide open, you lost a tremendous amount of blood, and there's also the fact that when we found you, your entrails were actually somehow working their way out of your body." Lidia looked to the ground, silently praying that whatever her brother said next, it would somehow change the subject. She didn't really want to talk about what happened back at that field, especially because of who she fought. Lidio pulled out one of his favorite things in the world; an 11", black handled survival knife (he always called it the sharp beauty), slid it in his facial wound, and began to move it around in there. It was just his way of getting rid of an itch in there, considering the fact he never wanted to put any of his body parts inside the thing. Small trickles of blood began to seep through the wound as Lidio scratched the inside of it with his favorite knife, but he honestly didn't seem to notice. To the very least, it was making him scratch the bleeding wound harder, opening the scar even more, and daring another drop of red blood to leave through it. While scratching, he did change the subject in a way, but changed it to an even more painful subject. "So… who's the asshole that did this to you anyway, sis?" Lidia's eyes widened when he asked this. Her eyes began to well up, her lips began to quiver, but she tried to conceal her tears. After all, she was taught as a commander of Rubrum that to show tears was to show fear and cowardice. "Alls you gotta do is tell me who, and I'll make sure they're 6 feet under."

It was at his final statement that she couldn't take it. All her years of holding back this emotion that had been eating at her for so long finally led up to this moment. She didn't care if she would lose any of her honor and dignity; she only wanted to let this emotion out. She suddenly buried her face into her arms and began to weep bitterly and strongly. Lidio opened his eyes, his face fervent with confusion and wonder. Lidia only kept crying. To think that her nearly being killed by her best friend wasn't enough; now she has the knowledge that if she tells Lidio the identity of the culprit; if she told Lidio that Octavia, her best friend even at their last few moments, had done this to her, he would immediately go out, kill her in God knows what way, and make sure he brought the body with him as a trophy was too unbearable. All her life she was told crying never solved anything, but she had to let go of the sadness and despair that's been tearing her apart for so long. After she finally calmed down, she looked at Lidio, who was still itching his scar with his knife, and said, in a barely audible voice, "It…It was Octavia…" When the name Octavia was said, Lidio became shocked, in fact so shocked, he accidentally thrusted his knife real deep into the wound. With that, he instantly yanked the knife out, now covered by Lidio's blood, gave a loud scream, and held his scar with his left hand. He removed his hand and looked at it, choosing only now to have noticed he was bleeding. The deep inside of his scar was now reopened, and it was shooting blood out of it like a thick, red, warm waterfall. Lidio began to mutter to himself, Lidia able to make out a few curse words he grumbled out. His eyes were burning red with rage as he recalled when he had first laid eyes on Octavia.

_FLASHBACK_

_Lidia was holding her brother's hand, running as fast as she could to the field. At this time, Lidia was about 8, making Lidio only 6 at the time. "Sister, where are we going? It better be real important if you're dragging me along this fast._

_ Lidia didn't take time to stop or look at Lidio and simply said, "There's someone I'm absolutely dying to have you meet! She's a friend of mine, and she's really nice." They kept running, Lidio sometimes looking around to see a bunch of flowers around him and his sister. He was a lot smaller back then. In fact, age 6 was one of the only times in his life where his older sister was taller than him. Had he known that years later, he would make everyone piss themselves just by having them look at him, he wouldn't have let Lidia drag him into all the stuff she usually does. He just thought that he would always be the freakin' runt of the soldiers in the Holy Empire (and boy was he wrong)._

_ The 2 ran for about 15 minutes, Lidio beginning to run out of energy, when at a sunflower field, when he saw another girl, exactly Lidia's height, with long blonde hair. She had blue eyes like the sea during a sunset. She immediately greeted Lidia by hugging her, saying that she thought Lidia had run off just for the Hell of it. After that, Lidia remembered exactly what she came here for. "Oh! I almost forgot. Octavia, this is my little brother, Lidio." she said in a very cheerful and friendly voice. The girl, Octavia as his brother had called her, walked over to Lidio, which made him slightly back up a bit._

_ "It's a very good pleasure to meet you, Lidia's brother." she said, holding her arm out for a handshake, which caused Lidio to cringe and turn his face to the left. It was then, that with a gasp, Octavia noticed on Lidio, the most hideous thing she had ever seen at the time. There, on the right side of his face, was a huge, almost hallow scar on his face. Some of it just simply faded to black like the bottom of most chasms, but some of it took the terrible of his face and made it even worse by revealing part of his bone. "W-w-what happened to your face?" Octavia asked as she raised her arm up, as if to feel the wound. Lidio simply made a loud breathe in noise like a child who knows they are about to get hit._

_ Lidia leaned over to Octavia and whispered quietly, "He doesn't like to talk about it, nor is he really accustomed to the idea that when someone raises their arm at him, that doesn't mean they're going to hit him. He's been… traumatized as a child you see. I told you how bad my parents were to me, but Lidio got it even worse than I did." Octavia took that moment to think about that. She had heard several stories from Lidia about her mother dipping her hand in boiling water if she was suspected to thievery, and stories of his father smashing his bottle and attacking her in a fit of drunken enragement. She thought Lidia had to have had it pretty hard, so she never pictured the day when Lidia would say somebody had it far worse than he did._

_ Octavia looked back at Lidio, who looked at her with eyes saying, 'if you're going to hit me, just please make it quick'. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry." she said to him. "I didn't know that you had it so rough. But tell you what, if you ever need anyone else besides your sister to be friends with, I'll always be there for you." She then proceeded to hug Lidio. "Do we have a deal?" She didn't even need to hear him say a word; him hugging her back, putting his face on her shoulder, and silently crying was the only answer she needed._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Lidio took a good moment or two to remember the little deal that she and him had. 'If you ever need anyone else besides your sister to be friends with, I'll always be there for you' was the only thing that could get through his mind. He almost laughed at the fact he remembered that; she makes a promise to him, and immediately, the minute he turns his back on her, goes around and commits attempted murder on the only family he had left. 'What a bitch.' He thought to himself, and before he knew it, he was in the closet in the little bedroom, looking for his equipment. When he found what he was looking for, a 3'5" 1-handed blade with a dark purple handle and a red blade that he called Nightmare's Tail, he went back to Lidia, who already knew what it is he wanted to do. "Stay here, and get some rest sis." he said as he patted her shoulder. "Don't try to get up for any reason, and if there's someone here, don't let them in until I return, ok? I'm going out for a little hunt." He turned around to leave the room and look for Octavia. Lidia's heart began to pound at an abnormally fast pace, and she began to sweat a little bit.

"NO!" she screamed as she unexpectedly grabbed Lidio's hand and pulling him back. The swift movement caught the man off guard and almost pulled him right to the floor. "NO! Lidio, please! You can't do this!"

"LET GO OF MY HAND SISTER!" he shouted back. "I PROMISED THAT I WOULD NEVER PURPOSELY TRY TO HURT YOUR FRIENDS, BUT THIS TIME, SHE'S FUCKING ASKING FOR IT!" Lidio was downright pissed off. Never once in his entire life had he yelled at his older sister in an episode of rage. He was always able to control his anger so that he wouldn't accidentally direct it at someone he cared for or someone who didn't deserve it.

"You can't go and kill her! She's my best friend! Please Lidio! Have mercy on her!" she begged, and soon after held her face in her arms once again and began to sob. She cried for a good 10 minutes, sometimes adding along a broken up 'Please, please, no'. After she stopped crying, she just sat there, keeping her face in their place as if hiding from something…

"I don't understand." She heard her brother say, and looking up, became surprised that he was still there. "First, she beats the living shit out of you and leaves you for the vultures to sink their talons into you still alive body, second, she meets you at some random field, in the middle of a storm, beats you again, but only this time she decides to finish the job, and yet you're still claiming her to be your best friend, and pleading me not to harm a hair on her head?" Lidia and Lidio kept staring at each other, Lidia praying he would choose to listen to her. Finally, with a sigh of defeat, Lidio said, "This is why I don't need any friends. You give them all you can, and even when they finally decide to stab you in the back, spit in your face, and leave you as Devil's bait, you still think they're your friends." He put his sword away, and trying to make his sigh of relief as quiet as possible, he left his sister to let her rest. She heard the sigh of relief, and gave a relieved sigh herself as she realized something: Lidio didn't want to kill her.

XXX

Lidio walked around in a dark forest in the middle of the night, pitch-dark out, and not a single light in the forest to light his way. He was absolutely terrified. He had no idea which way to go, he couldn't see anything past his hand in front of his face, and he had no weapons to defend himself with. "Lidia?" he called out in a frightful voice. There came no response. "…Lidia? Octavia? Anyone?!" he continued to shout, but to his pure terror and horror, nobody answered. He was all alone in a forest he didn't even recognize, he couldn't see the road that might lead him to his freedom, and if there was something that would come after him, he would literally have nothing against them but his strength alone. Wearily, he began walking forward, seeing as if he really didn't have much of a choice at the time. He continually walked around, turning his head here and there, as if hoping he would see a light out of the corner of his eye. He continued to walk forward until he hit something that blocked the way. Unable to see what it was, he tried to shove it out of his way, but whatever it was, it wouldn't budge. Seeing as how he wouldn't be able to keep moving, he turned around and began to head back. But only after 4 steps, he hit yet another object, not allowing him to move back either. He tried to move left and right, but there was an object in his way, and it became clear to him that he was trapped.

Desperately, he began to pound on one of the objects and shouting for help. "SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE!" he continued to shout, until suddenly, he heard the rustle of a bush, He felt a sudden drop in temperature around where he was at. It began to dawn on him that wherever he was, whatever was keeping him from escaping the black forest, he wasn't the only person behind those objects… somebody was there with him. "Who's there?" he said, trying not to break down into tears of fear. There was no answer, but Lidio knew that there was somebody else there. "Who the fuck is there?!" he shouted again, getting no answer.

Suddenly, he heard a switchblade being revealed, and in his ear, he heard an ominous, and yet very familiar voice of a man whisper right into his ear only one, quite, fear inducing word: "Nobody." Before he could react, or even scream, a powerful arm took him from behind and wrapped itself around his throat. Being choked to death, he tried to pull the arm away, but whoever was keeping him bound was a very strong man. He wouldn't let even a single atom of life-giving oxygen make it to his lungs. He continued his futile struggle to get the arm off of him. He kept tugging at the arm, hoping that somehow, he would be able to get it off of him at least long enough to let him take a breath of air in, but he knew he was getting weaker. He was on the verge of exhaustion due to lack of oxygen when he saw another arm holding a 16" blade. His thoughts ran wildly through his head. 'Oh no! Nonono! Oh God, please save me!' was all he could silently pray as the other arm raised up into the air, and stuck his neck with the blade.

XXX

Lidio woke up from his nightmare screaming and sweating like a glass of ice water left out in the heat for too long. It had been 3 days since Lidio brought Lidia to the small house on the hill, and although his sister was recovering fairly quickly, his nightmares that had been plaguing his sleep ever since were steadily getting worse and worse. But this one definitely meant something. The forest he was in, he couldn't help but feel he'd been in there once before; when he was trapped in those 4 objects, he almost felt like in truth, there was nothing really there, but the most haunting part for him was the murder. The voice that said the word, 'Nobody', Lidio recognized that voice quite well, but he couldn't remember who's it was, just as he vaguely remembered once knowing about a guy that whenever he's about to kill one of his enemies, and they ask who's there, he silently whispers that exact word in that same way, but he couldn't remember who always did that.

"What does it all mean?" Lidio asked as he stared quietly at a crucifix he had placed in the room where he slept.

END OF CHAPTER

P.M: Yes Lidio, what does your dream mean, and why can you remember the things you've never seen, heard, or done before.

Lidio: Oh that's simple. It's because I'm going to-

Arthur: Sshh! Don't spoil the surprise!

M.P: Whatever you say… Queen Athuria.

Arthur: Oh, you are so going to die!

BIG shout out to User 627 for supporting me.

Q: If there is one thing I can't stand about a lot of the animes, it's the fact that in almost every single one of them, my favorite character is either a complete douche bag or they just wined up dead. Ex: Lidia, Vegeta, Seto Kaiba, Mai Valentine, ect. On that happy note, tell me one of your favorite anime characters, and tell me if they die or if they're just plain asses.


	3. Prepare The Way

Lidia's Brother

Chap. 3

P.M: OK, so new question. If you could be married with any woman in any anime, who would you be with?

Lidio: Um… I would have to say Bianca from Pokemon Black and White. Not from Black 2 or White 2, though.

Arawn: Her? Why would you date a blonde who can't even get something out of her bag?

Lidio: I don't know, there's just something about her that turns me on.

P.M: Does it have anything to do with the fact that she's only 10, and she already has a grown woman's breasts?

Lidio: If you're trying to say I'm a pedophile, I am not.

Arthur: After hearing you would marry a 10-year-old, I'm not convinced.

Lidio: I'll kick your ass, my liege!

P.M: Just start the fucking chapter!

It's been a full week since Lidio took her sister to his small cabin he built for if he ever wanted to get away from that whole Rubrum thing. Lidia had been recovering quite quickly, but ever since she had gotten there, she's been gradually noticing there was something just not right with her little brother. The first day, when she first woke up, Lidio just acted totally normal for himself, but the next day, he acted a little more aware of what was around him, as in almost every second of that day, he was looking to and fro as if he was looking for something; on the 2nd day, he was yawning a lot and sometimes when Lidia was asking for a necessity, he would just blank out; later that night, Lidia woke up at the sound of him screaming bloody murder, as if something had just broken into their house, and the rest of the day, along with the rest of the week, he was constantly yawning, sometimes dosing off, and he always had his sword at hand, like he was preparing for something. His eyes were bloodshot, his long white hair was practically a complete abomination, and he hadn't had a single crumb pass through his lips ever since the 5th day, so he was a bit thinner than usual and just plain out of energy. Lidia looked back to all the times she's seen Lidio, and never once did she remember Lidio acting like this. Then at 11:50 P.M., on the 6th day, she heard something she never thought or predicted would happen. Ever since the 3rd day, if she didn't get to sleep fast enough, she would sometimes hear her little brother get up from where he rested, pace around the house (except for her room, so she would not be disturbed), and mumbled to himself something that Lidia just couldn't make out. She thought that he just wasn't getting enough sleep, so she stuck to that, until the 6th day. She was sound asleep by 8:00 P.M. so she wouldn't have to hear her brother pacing. She thought that it would be one of the nights where she didn't have to hear Lidio walk around the freaking place. As she slept soundly, she began to dream.

_IN LIDIA'S DREAM_

_Lidia walked around in a room she didn't even know. She was aware of what she was doing, she knew that she wasn't familiar with the place, but yet she felt she had to do what she was doing, which, at the moment, was walking down a dirt road. In fact, even though she was aware of what she was doing, she didn't even know why she was doing it; in fact, she wasn't even controlling what she was doing. She just knew that she was her, and her body was automatically doing what it was doing on its own. She had absolutely no control over what was going on. She knew that wherever her body was going, she didn't know where, but for some reason, she really wanted to go there. Wherever her body was leading her, she was going along with it. Eventually, she came across a field that she knew all to well. It was the old field of flowers that she and her best friend, Octavia, used to play in when they were only children. 'But how?' she thought to herself. 'This field was gotten rid of before I was even 14. How is it-!" she completely stopped thinking when she saw that, with her back turned towards her and staring at the blue, sunny sky, blonde hair gently flowing with the wind, was Octavia herself. Lidia didn't know what to think. She was in complete and utter shock at seeing Octavia there. At the same time, she realized that her body, not doing a single thing she might want to have told it, began walking up close to Octavia, holding in one hand, her signature sword. It was then that she noticed Octavia was also holding hers. When Lidia was only a foot away, Octavia finally turned to look at her. She was exactly how she was remembered; gorgeous, long blonde hair, beautiful light skin, and the perfect, most adorable set of blue eyes that looked like the sun's light shining on the ocean's surface. Lidia's heart fluttered as she remembered how beautiful she really was. When Lidia wanted to do nothing more but kill Octavia, she was obviously blind to this beauty. "No wonder Arawn loves her so much. How can any man refuse her?" she thought, noticing that her thoughts began to become bitter when she said Arawn and man. She was trying to figure out why she was thinking so many thoughts of her murdering Arawn, cutting his intestines into little ribbons and decorating her house with them, and slashing up any man who even layed eyes on her. 'Why am I thinking this way?' she thought. 'Am I… am I… jealous?' She then took a moment to observe her heart and truly feel what she had desperately been trying to hide. _

_From the very day of meeting her, Lidia always knew she and Octavia would be close friends. Over the years, when they both began their adolescence, she began to slowly and steadily admire her friend's beauty. Slowly, but surely, Lidia began to become more and more attracted to Octavia. Every time the 2 were near each other, she would always seem to say the wrong things, and when they hugged each other, she would sweat uncontrollably. It was only when they were both 14-years-old that she finally convinced herself._

_Lidia loved her. Not a friend and friend sort of love, but a girlfriend and girlfriend sort of love. She tried to tell her other friends that she loved her, but they all laughed it off, thinking she was pulling their leg. Even when she told Lidio that she loved another woman, he just simply told her that she and he were too young yet to understand such feelings, but Lidia didn't care. She knew what she really felt, whether everyone told her differently or not. She wanted to spend every second of her life with the woman. Her smooth, cream skin was simply flawless, her hair and eyes were to die for, her breasts were absolutely perfect, and that sweet smile she would always shine was in all ways irresistible. Lidia wanted to have her more than anything the world could ever offer her. Not even Satan and all of his temptations in the world would she take if it meant she couldn't make Octavia hers._

_Only when she had thought about all this did her body once again finally move. Unable to predict what her body would have her do, the next thing she knew, she had dropped the sword, and walked closer to Octavia. Octavia began to stare at her, with sword at hand, just in case Lidia would try anything funny. Lidia finally did something to Octavia. She took one hand and put it on the back of Octavia's head, feeling her silky blonde hair, gently pulled her face closely to hers, and finally, she pressed her own lips against hers. Lidia was in absolute shock, here she was, doing things she herself was not responsible for, and she was kissing the one woman whom she loved. When Octavia got over her obvious shock, she wrapped her arms around Lidia's back, asking for more. There tongues danced with each other, and there was total bliss. After a minute, the kiss was finally broken. "You mean, you forgive me?" Octavia asked, having a sort of urging tone in her voice. "You don't hate me anymore?"_

"_No Octavia… I never could hate you." Lidia replied back. It was a truly magical moment, and Lidia wanted it to never end. When Lidia told Octavia this, they both smiled, tears of joy beginning to well up in their eyes. They kissed once more, their tongues again meeting each other for a dance. They both laid on the grassy field, kissing each other like they would never see each other again. After their last kiss was broken, they simply laid there, being held in the other woman's arms. It was absolutely magnificent…_

She heard it.

As she lay in her bed, dreaming of holding her best friend right close to her, she was awakened by a blood curdling right outside of her room. Lidia had heard many screams in her life; screams of joy, screams of pleasure, screams of pain, screams of anger, screams of fear, you name it, but there was something different about this one. This one sounded to her like someone roasted in the unquenchable fires of Hell itself and came back. And more over, it was a scream that came from her brother, and he really never screamed out of fear. Almost as if to make sure Lidia had heard him, after the one scream, he inhaled loudly and made another scream. Then, it became deathly quiet. All sound ceased to go on, as if the universe itself knew something was just not right. The owls outside stopped their hooting, and the wind dared not to make itself heard. She couldn't really hear it, but she pictured Lidio sitting on his small couch, body becoming cold from sweat, breathing real fast and hard, and his pupils shrunk beyond all compare. Then she heard a noise she had never though possible. She heard her little brother, a grown captain of the most powerful Empire in Europe, sobbing out of fear. Lidia just had no idea what to think. She knew that her sibling was plagued by horrifying dreams, nightmares robbing him of his sleep and motivation, but what could have been so bad for him that he awoke crying like a baby who can't have what it wants? How many dreams like this will he have? Will Lidio ever be back to his bold, rush into action without planning ahead nature, or will these night terrors completely transform him into the paranoid mess he is at this moment?

XXX

Lidio just wasn't the same on the 7th day. Usually when Lidia didn't need him to bring her something (for the wound was still in healing), or he wasn't bringing her a meal or anything, he would lie down on the couch and try to get as much sleep as possible; now he looked like he was terrified of going to sleep. He was literally in the worst shape he had ever been in his brief life. He wasn't eating, he could barely sleep anymore, his skills with sword and bow and drastically decreased day by day, he couldn't even find the focus to use the Dark Magic he once could tap into with merely the simple thought, but worst of all was his emotional health, for he knew that he brought Lidia to the small home he once made for himself for when he wanted to keep his distance from Rubrum so her stomach affliction could be healed up, but ever since he started acting the way he was. He knew that she was only worrying more and more for him, which made him feel like the absolute worst older brother out there. Many changes in his body and attitude, like the fact he wasn't eating at all (which is very strange for a guy like him, but you would have to eat with him to know why), which in turn made him boney and out of energy, the sudden urge to look around the room for danger every 10 seconds (he usually said "If there's a chance something could harm me, let it."), and his now apparent fear of closing his eyes were the giveaway hints that something was basically killing him. One of the major changes, however, was his sudden fear of masks. He had a mask that he used to wear when he was 4-years-old stored in Lidia's closet, and when he got vision of that mask just sitting there, the first thing that Lidia noticed was his facial expression changed. He had his normal face when he brought her breakfast, and talked to her a little bit, telling her that she should be able to walk again within a couple of days, and once he got a look of that mask, his face suddenly became fervent with fear. His hands tightened into fists until they lost what little color they had, and became even more white then Lidio's usually pale skin, his pupils dilated, and his breathing became loud and hard. The next thing I knew, he grabbed the mask, cut it into little pieces with his sword, and used what little Dark Magic he was able to focus on to set the pieces on fire, cremating them to make sure they in some God given way form back into their past shape.

Lidia took all of this into consideration, and decided the chance she got she was going to talk to Lidio, and try to see if she could get some answers. At the rising of the moon, 9:00 P.M., Lidio did his natural routine of going into Lidia's room and asking her if there was anything she needed before they call it a day. "Sit down Lidio." She said in a soft and commanding voice. Though she had not been commander for at least 7 days, she knew just what to say and how to say it to get people to do what she tells them to. Lidio, a little weary about what it was she wanted from him at this point, walked over to the side of the bed and sat down. "…Lidio, I couldn't help but notice there's something very different about you." she said in a voice full of concern.

"Different as in how?" Lidio asked coldly. If he could, he definitely would have turn back time and kick his own ass for sounding like that. He didn't mean to sound so cold and hateful towards his older sister, he just had the impulse to deny. "…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that."

Lidia nodded to show that she understood, and continued on. "Well, for starters, you used to eat with me when you brought me my food, but now you just sit there and watch me eat. Your body looks like you haven't fed it in days, and you're always tired and yawning, but you look too afraid to go to sleep.

"Yes, I've noticed this too." Lidio replied. "I have been acting a bit different-"

"I wasn't finished." Lidia interrupted. "You somehow got this obvious fear of masks, considering the fact you burned you only window to your childhood, which was a mask, every 10 seconds, you're looking around the entire fucking place as if you see or hear something, and just the other night, you woke up screaming, only to start crying right afterwards. And- *sigh*…Lidio, please understand that I'm not trying to be nasty or anything, I just want to know what the Hell is going on." Lidio kept his eyes fixed on her, as if he thought the minute he turned away, he was going to die, and began to talk.

"…As you know, dear sister, I have been experiencing traumatizing visions in my sleep, each, as you probably guessed, are getting worse than the last, and if you heard me screaming like that, you know that this last particular dream was definitely a nasty one. And… Hell, I don't know. I've been like this ever since I brought you home. It's as if…" he paused in order to choose his words carefully. "…it's as if Heaven and Hell are trying to tell me something."

"…You know, I've been having dreams ever since I came here too." said Lidia. "I keep having dreams where I see Octavia. At first, my dreams were almost exactly like flashbacks, always telling me something that already happened. When I first came here, I had a dream about when Octavia and I were still friends." Lidio looked down to the ground, as if trying to ignore her, but Lidia didn't notice. "I even had a dream of when she and I hated each other, when I saw her for the first time in a long while. But… this last dream I had… I saw her again. And I didn't just see her, I kissed her, I held her, and even our tongues were dancing together. Lidio, I know I told you this when you said I was too young to understand such emotions as love, but now I know. With all my heart, I-" Lidia stopped talking when he heard a low almost growling sound come from Lidio. When Lidia looked over to the side of the bed, she was surprised. "Wait a minute, did you fall asleep?" she asked, getting no response. Lidio just kept his head tilting down, snoring. Lidia thought about waking him up to tell him to go to his own room, but then she thought that maybe if she let Lidio sleep in her room the night, maybe he wouldn't have those terrible visions that stalk him in his sleep. So, she gently laid Lidio on the bed, covered her body and his up with the sheet, and went to sleep. She couldn't wait until the day she was able to walk again.

XXX

Lidio aimlessly wandered around the strange building, vaguely remembering being there before. "Where am I?" he asked, hoping somebody would answer him. There was no response coming from the seemingly forsaken building. Lidio somehow couldn't walk back, as if a wall were blocking him, but every time he tried to progress forward, he was allowed. Lidio didn't want to make it to the end; he didn't want to know what lied before him in this vision, but something, somewhere deep inside the part of a human's soul that is called the conscience, kept sending him various messages, saying things like: 'Why are you stopping?', 'Keep moving!', or We've come so far; you can't turn back now!', and so on. Lidio, weary about the place yet, kept moving forward, until he came to 2 big wooden doors. Just to get it all over with, he opened the doors, and entered. He was completely amazed. The inside of that room was nowhere near as desolate as the outside. It has several sets of pews, beautifully crafted stain glass windows, and a huge altar with a white cloth on it. Lidio now recognized this place. It was the Church he went to before he had got sent to the Rubrum Army. But 2 things suddenly unnerved him: 1. How did he remember this place when the last time he went there was when he was 2-years-old, and 2. Why was even the inside so empty? It had everything he remembered from the red carpet going from the entrance and exit of the Church to the foot of the altar, to the painting of Jesus hanging on the Cross, dead, and it even had that painting at the roof where it showed St. Michael the Archangel casting Lucifer into the Gehenna, but the place itself had not one person there but him. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he got the presence from his nightmares, knowing he was not alone. He drew out his special sword and dared anyone to come near him. "Who's there?" he asked looking all about. Then suddenly, in front of him, there came a blinding white light so radiant, he had to cover his eyes and turn away to ensure he would still be able to see, and behold, when he looked back in front of him when the light died down, there with him was a 2nd man, almost the exact same height as Lidio, with long brown hair and a brown beard. He wore white robes, and in His wrists and feet, there were holes that allowed one to see right through them like a tear in the cloth.

"Lidio," the man spoke, His voice even more soothing then the breeze after a storm. "why do you draw your weapon in My Father's House?" Lidio didn't even need to ask the man who He was, for he had already obtained his answer.

"My Lord." Lidio said, immediately dropping his sword and falling to his knees. All Lidio's life, he had believed that the Messiah had come to bring salvation to humanity, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would ever meet the Christ in person. Whether it was a dream, or if his soul was really somewhere else, he was standing in the presence of Jesus, the one who had suffered for many so that the covenant made to God's people could be fulfilled. "I am truly happy to see you, but by what action am I accounted worthy to interact with you, man to man?"

"Arise Lidio, brother of Lidia, and captain of the Rubrum Army, for I am here to deliver to you a message." And at that, he took a ceremonial table used for sacrificing and giving holocausts to God. From there he took a loaf of bread, and breaking it in half, he put one half near him, and the other at the other side of the table. Then he took 2 chalices, and pouring into both of them, water that transformed immediately into wine, and set one at the opposite end of where He sat. "Come, for I have seen you, how you have not eaten in days." Lidio joyfully took this opportune moment, and sat down, and ate with the Messiah. "For the past 6 days now, you have been experiencing terrible visions. Tell me, do you remember what your last vision was?" Lidio looked at Jesus, and knew that he couldn't lie to Him, so he put the bread and wine down, and told Jesus in detail what he saw.

"In my dream, I was somehow bound to a platform, hard and cold as iron. I tried to struggle free, but whatever force bound me to the platform, it was an intense force that not even I, with all my dark powers, couldn't escape. Then, from each side of me, out of the pitch black that prohibited me from seeing what all was around me, came 2 people, both wearing a mask. One of these people was tall, frightening in bodily appearance. He was obese, and he stunk like the corpse of an ox. On my other side, was a man much shorter then the last, and he looked like he had just escaped a battle with a back injury. The short one asked, 'How long will it be until we can rip his very soul out of his body?' and in reply, the tall one said, 'Have patience, my little friend, for our master will personally see to it that this one truly gets what he deserves. Until then, he has given us permission to do anything that we please to him, so long as he is still alive at least until they see each other again.' Then out of his pocket, the short one pulled out a sort of handle like device, and when his finger pulled a small lever on it, a small, pink colored beam suddenly appeared. He called it a laser cutter, and the first thing he did was slide it through my left armpit, and I felt an overwhelming burning sensation in my arm. I screamed as loud as I could, but he didn't even stop. He began to slide it down lower, and when he finally reached my chest, the overweight man took one out too, and starting from my right armpit, began cutting his way down. I was screaming and crying like a scared baby, looking to and fro for something to get me out of there. Afterwards, both of them drove their machines deep into the center of my chest, and then I woke up." he said, amazed he was able to bear reliving that gruesome vision.

"Be cautious, Lidio, for you have been shown a small portion of what is to come." Jesus told him, which made Lidio slightly panic.

"Y-you mean th-that it's really going t-t-t-to happen?" he questioned, trying to keep his voice from quivering.

"Take courage, my child, for not until all that must be fulfilled before this is done shall this be. Now, rise, and prepare yourself for the way."

XXX

Lidio woke up, discovering he was in Lidia's bed. The birds were singing, the sun was out, and the light of the sun shined like Lidio couldn't remember. It was the first time he had awakened without being so by nightmares, and was only brought back by a good dream. But then he noticed how dramatically better he felt. He looked just like he did before the nightmares came along; his body was no longer much thinner than what he would have naturally allowed, he was able to keep his focus up all the time, and he was full of energy. He was completely refreshed. Lidia, feeling Lidio getting up from bed, woke up and looked at him, her mouth nearly dropping. "Holy Moses!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "How did you get back to normal so quick?"

"I'll tell you later." Lidio replied. "But for now, I'm going for a little walk." And so he left the house for a bit, amazed at how quickly he recovered. His weapon and Magic skills were even greater then they ever could be. Lidio looked to the sky and whispered, "I owe you one."

XXX

While sharpening his knife at a local village, Lidio finally remembered the whole reason Lidia was counting the days until she could get out of that bed. He was sitting on a log, when he accidentally began to overhear a conversation between a man and a woman. "Hey, do you know that big tournament thing they're hosting at the coliseum?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, so what? The only thing I'm interested in is the fact that apparently one of the wives of that fellow, Arawn, are entering the tournament." The man replied.

"Really? Which one?"

"Um… if I remember it correctly, uh… I don't know how to pronounce it, but it is spelled O, C, T, A, V, I, A." After hearing the spelling of the name, Lidio immediately halted his sharpening. He had completely forgotten about Octavia until this very moment. "I hear she's one of the best sword masters in the entire Holy Empire." the man continued. "I feel bad for any poor sucker that's gotta fight her."

"Where is this tournament?" Lidio asked, not really noticing how he just randomly got up and walked towards them. The woman and man only stared at him, the man slightly chuckling a bit. "This coliseum with Octavia in it, where is it?" he questioned again. Ten the man opened up.

"Ha! You really think you can win a tournament with Octavia in it? Hahaha! You'll be lucky if she'll let you go with a broken leg!" Normally Lidio was a quite patient fellow, but this time, he really wasn't in the mood for being mocked at.

Without any warning, the second after the man finished talking Lidio suddenly shoved him into a wall, grabbed him by the shirt, and held his dagger right to his throat. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. Tell me where it's being held."

"Hey! Let go of him!" the woman yelled as she began to tug at Lidio's arm holding the man. Lidio, not wanting to hear her for the whole thing, used his knife hand to punch her in the face as hard as he could (which was pretty hard), and sent her to the ground. When the woman took off, he put his knife back up against the throat of the man.

"I'm trying to help you!" the man said. "If you go to this tournament and face off against Octavia, you'll surely be killed!"

"I don't mind myself a good challenge." Lidio replied.

"You haven't been in many battles like she has!"

Not wanting to hear it, Lidio turned his face to the left, with his red eye still on the man. "In that case, I guess you wouldn't mind if I told you about where I got this scar." Lidio said. The man understood if he didn't tell him what he wanted to know, Lidio would do to him whatever the person who scarred his face did to him. And so he told Lidio that the coliseum was in the main castle of the Holy Empire. When Lidio got the news, he had told Lidia everything he had figured out, and told Lidia that he wanted to enter the tournament to meet Octavia again.

"I can understand that you really want to talk to Octavia again Lidio, but my only concern is that Octavia has the best sword skills I've ever seen, and you're the most agile and brutal warrior I've ever met, so there's a very good chance you 2 will be fighting, and I don't want to lose Octavia, no less you, Lidio." Lidia told her little brother. "But then again, I guess you can let her live… ok, I'll let you do it. But after you 2 fight, if you win, please let her live, and tell her that I'm sorry for all the pain that I might have caused her."

"All the pain you caused her? Seriously, I don't see why you just can't learn to be angry at her for the suffering you're going through because of her." Lidio demanded.

"Because, Lidio, by injuring me and having you come out, she let us be together again." At that statement, Lidio left without saying another word. It was true that Lidio should be real grateful to Octavia for letting them escape from all the war stuff going on. Not a single comeback that could ever come out of his mouth could deny that. Lidio sighed in defeat, and Lidia lied back down and closed her eyes with a smile of triumph, knowing that she had won.

XXX

The big tournament.

It was truly an honor if you even made it to the semifinals. Many of the best warriors from all over the world came in to fight each other. It was definitely no surprise that Octavia had made it to the finals, but she had been hearing a lot of people talking about how there was a slight chance some masked man would be able to beat her. Very curious, she decided to watch the other semifinal fight between a well trained gladiator and the masked man. She was almost ready to question how this masked man was able to get this far. While the gladiator chose a long, 2-handed sword, the masked man pulled out a relatively long knife, and got into a battle position. "A knife? Ha! You've got to be kidding me kid! I'll take you out in 3 minutes flat!" the gladiator mocked, but the masked man did not waver. Then the fight began with the gladiator running up and slashing at the man with a downward swing, but the masked man smoothly dodged the slash. The gladiator tried stabbing him in the stomach, but the masked man quickly jumped to the side. It was apparent that the masked man was simply toying with his enemy. "Grr! Why you little son of a bitch!" The gladiator kept swinging his sword left, right, up, down, and diagonally, but Octavia was starting to become steadily impressed by the boy's quick reflexes as he dodged away from every single blow the warrior tried to land on him. "Will you fight like a man?!" the gladiator shouted as he swung downward. This time, the man repelled the blade with his knife.

"If you insist." he said. He kicked the gladiator's armored leg, and the gladiator shouted in pain, proving to Octavia he was also brutally powerful, but the man wasn't done yet. He punched the gladiator in the cheek, sending his helmet flying, scratched his face with the tip of his knife, and kicked him in the chest with a force that not even the breastplate could fully absorb. It was then that the gladiator knew that the man could defeat him to easily to keep this up. In order for the man to win, he had to cheat. So, he made a whistle, and 4 chariots, each holding 1 archer came riding forth. The masked man looked around as the chariots circled around him, and put his knife down as if surrendering. All 4 archers shot their arrows at him simultaneously, but by simply moving his hands up, the arrows stopped in their places. This was a real slap in the face for Octavia. She knew that the man had already won, but now she has to fight a Dark Magic user. He moved his arms closer to his body, and then stretched them out with great speed, causing the arrows to pierce the necks of the archers who fired them. Blood shot everywhere as the 4 fell over dead. The masked man, using his dark powers to pick up a loose arrow, fired it at the gladiator. The arrow was too fast for the gladiator to deflect, and it pierced his side, him screaming and kneeling down. Everyone in the stadium except for Octavia chanted on for the man to kill the gladiator. "You want me to kill him?!" the man shouted, and the crowd cheered. "You want him dead?!" and the stadium cheered again. "So be it!" the man shouted as he brought down his knife into the man's neck, and with blood squirting out like a crack in the dam, he fell over dead. The man was going to the finals.

XXX

It was almost like a dream, Octavia finally meeting a warrior who might be able to match up with her. Then a question came out of her mouth, "Who are you?" Without hesitation, the man removed his mask. When Octavia saw who it was, her mind went blank. Her face began to turn white, and her heart began to beat faster.

"Octavia," said Lidio as he stared at her. "you knew this was coming."

P.M: Finally! I got that chapter done!

Q: If you could have relations with any woman in anime (Yes Dark Magician Girl and Mai Valentine are available answers), who would it be with?


	4. All is Forgiven

Lidia's Brother

Chap. 4

P.M: Hey people, I'm here with another chapter today-

Lidio: Remember tubby, we got 5 days until we find out who wins the bet.

P.M: How could I forget? Anyway, let's start Chapter 4.

What exactly could Octavia say at a time like this? Who exactly could she say it to if she were to say anything? Would the man standing merely 6 feet away from her even let her speak? She wasn't really sure. All she knew was that she was standing there, in a stadium full of millions of people, cheering for her and her opponent, who happened to have been a once great friend of hers. Why did this have to happen? Why would Lidio want to fight her so badly? The answer became obvious to her when she remembered the battle to the death she had with her best friend, and her winning. There was no way, in Earth, Heaven, or even the eternal Pools of Fire, that Lidio could be in the kingdom for a whole week without learning of his sister's terrible fate. She remembered the promise she had made him, about how if he ever needed a friend, she would always be around to help him, and she remembered just how much Lidio really thought of her as a friend. Whenever Lidia was very busy, and everyone else would turn a deaf ear to him, he would always know that Octavia would be ready to play with him, so how did learning that she was his sister's murderer affect him, mentally and emotionally? She just wanted to tell Lidio so many things at the time, just pour everything she needed out of her chest onto him, and maybe the 2 could still be friends, but she simply couldn't. She simply stood there. "Lidio…" she whispered softly, but Lidio wouldn't let her finish.

"You knew this was coming, Octavia." he said in the most cold, hate-filled voice that she had ever heard come free from the tongue of any man. "First, you leave my one and only sister to die in shame and disgrace, broken, beaten, and scarred, then, when I needed you most in all of my life, you were not there, even after you made a promise to me that no matter what happens, you would always be there for me when I needed you, and finally, you face my sister one last time, this time, with the intention of finishing what you started all those moons ago, and you think that you can just leisurely walk away from all 3 of those, and expect me to forget about it after a night's rest?" He never mentioned anything about the fact that Lidia was still alive, and resting with a terrible stomach injury. He knowingly and purposely omitted that 1 very important detail to give Octavia the impression that he was going to slaughter her, even though he knew he wasn't going to. After all, though he could say that the only reason he wasn't going to decapitate Octavia and burn her at the stake (not exactly in that order) was because his big sister pleaded him not to, but he knew deep down, past that unlimited torrent of hate and loneliness in his soul, he still considered Octavia as one of his best friends, maybe even as another big sister, and didn't want to kill her. He simply wanted to show how unpredictable he could truly be, and let Octavia think that Lidio was really out there to bloodily murder her, and anyone else that gets in his way.

Octavia couldn't really believe what was about to go down. Was this really happening? Would God really grant her the relief of knowing that she'll wake up in a bed, with Lidio still her friend, and perhaps, maybe Lidia still alive? "Lidio, I never intended to kill your sister! She was my best friend!" she replied after Lidio's short speech. Lidio had to really fight the urge to flash one of his rare, genuine smiles, as he was being entertained at the fact that his little mind game was being played, and so far, it looked like he was going to win. "You know that I would never intentionally try to harm your sister unless I have no choice, or for self-defense! You and I are friends Lidio! Don't you remember the promise I made to you, how I would always be there if you were ever in need of a friend?"

"Yeah, I remember… but…" Lidio replied coldly, pulling out his Sharp Beauty from his knife pocket. "you really didn't keep your promise, did you?" He stayed silent, as if he was waiting for Octavia to give him a response, but Octavia didn't say a word; she only pulled her sword out as she realized that no matter how much she tried to reason with the tall, pale man, there was no way out of this except to fight. Octavia and Lidio both took this time to evaluate their strengths and those of their opponent. Octavia definitely had the superior weapon, and the fact that she trained longer than Lidio, which gave her more skill with the sword, was also a key factor that helped her to overcome this challenge. On the other hand, in the past, and in the fight before this, Lidio had proven time and time again that he was more agile and physically powerful than Octavia could ever dream to be, and the fact that he had the aid of Dark Magic on his side could tip the whole fate of the battle in Lidio's favor. It seemed too unreal to Octavia. It was just like in a bedtime story she was told when she was but a little girl, about how a man was facing off against his best friend, and knowing that only by besting him in combat could he keep the world from certain destruction. She knew there and then that there was no way that she could ever continue to live unless… she killed Lidio. Not just injure him like what she originally did to Lidia, for she had already learned that if she did that, he would only come and find her once again. She had to destroy Lidio, even if it meant ending the entire generation and those to come of Lidia's family. She held her sword in both hands, bent her knees slightly, and waited. Time almost seemed to have stopped at that moment. The crowd held their breaths, the birds didn't chirp, and everything in the world seemed to have held still as she waited to see which one of them would make the first move. They didn't have to wonder who would for long, for Lidio gripped his knife tightly, and he ran up to begin his assault.

Quick as a flash, Lidio darted up to Octavia, and swung his knife vertically, as if meaning to cut Octavia into 2, but Octavia masterly deflected the knife with the blade of her sword. Nevertheless, Lidio simply tightened his grip again, and he began to swing wildly at her. To the crowds absolute delight, he was showing absolutely no pity on the girl, and continuously sliced, slashed, and stabbed at Octavia, trying to get her at a place she wasn't guarding well for his Sharp Beauty to pierce through her flesh. Octavia did everything she could to make sure she was not hit. She dodged, she parried, she ducked, and she was able to keep away from Lidio's flurry of attacks. When Lidio finally stopped for a bit to let his right arm rest, she finally had her chance to attack, as she swung her sword to the right with the intention to at the very minimum cut one of his arms off, however, she had underestimated Lidio's amazing speed, and while he let his right arm rest, his legs had lost almost no energy, and he was smoothly able to dodge the attack. She kept on swinging at him, but he was able to keep away from the bone-cutting steel of the sword long enough for his right arm to fully recover from its momentary fatigue. Both of them continuously, yet so futile, tried to attack each other. The crowd became silent as the tension began to build up. It was as if all sound was just muted. All that could be heard were the swords swinging. Eventually, they both stopped attacking each other for a little bit, and Octavia realized something. With the way his posture looked, and how heavily he was breathing, he was beginning to tire out. She knew he couldn't keep this up forever, so she once again decided to strike. Lidio kept dodging the attacks, but he was beginning to slow down. Finally, when he was too tired to react, Octavia finally struck him. She swung her sword to the left, and with a bone-crunching sound, the sword's blade went inside of Lidio's scar, and apparently cracked a part of his jaw. He screamed in great pain, but Octavia wasn't done, and slashed to the right. She stood there with her eyes closed for 10 seconds, the crowd still very silent. She opened her eyes to see what happened at the sound of Lidio groaning in pain, and what she saw almost made her vomit.

Lidio laid on the ground, but this time, he was cut into 2 pieces. With her lucky shot, Octavia was able to hit the pelvic area where the belly met the legs, and the whole blade just sliced right through it like a chainsaw slices through wood. Lidio interpreted that he might have a bit of trouble with Octavia, but he never predicted himself being in this kind of predicament. He shouted in pain as all the blood from his body spilled throughout his scar and his new wound. Octavia just stood there, a million thoughts running in her head. Did she mean to do to Lidio what she had just done, or had she just left everything to her battle instincts? Was this what needed to happen, or could there have been another way to settle all of this? Is this really a thing she should be proud of, or should she be letting her tears fall? She didn't know anything at the moment. It was sort of like when 2 children argue, how they can't make a decision together. One part of Octavia seemed to have been shouting, "It was the only way! Finish him now while you still have the chance!" and likewise the other part was silently praying, "No. Not again. Not him." But whichever she was to agree on, it didn't matter. Lidio was beginning to lose his life. He stopped shouting, and only breathed heavily. He thought of everything; his mother, his father, the kingdom he served, his sister… "L-Lidia…" he whispered quietly, so Octavia would not hear him. Then he saw and heard it. He was shown a vision of his sister, laying down and praying. He heard her words echo through his head.

"Dear God, it's me, Lidia. You've given me so much to be thankful for my entire life. You've let me keep breathing to this day, even though I should have died at that battlefield, and you let me be united with my dear little brother. He said that he would be back, and that nothing terrible would happen to him, but I can't stop worrying… so, if at all possible, watch over him and Octavia, and let him come home safely… please…" Lidio looked to the ground, his eyes beginning to feel heavy, as he knew he was dying.

"N-n-no…" he said, only audible enough for Octavia to snap out of her trance and stare at him. "I…I… I can't give up yet… not here… and not now!" Suddenly, he began to groan and shout again, and his whole face was sweating something awful. Then, from the severed legs of his, there sprouted out 6, purple, translucent tentacle-like beams that went into the rest of Lidio, causing him to scream in great pain. Octavia knew he was using his Dark Magic, and she wanted to stop him, but at the same time, she wanted Lidio to be perfectly fine. So she just stood there, and watched as his legs dragged themselves to the rest of his body, and reconnect with it. Though his scar kept bleeding, the legs looked as if nothing even happened, so he stood up straight, and the crowds began to cheer with excitement. Both Lidio and Octavia knew that if Lidio kept this up, there was no way he would beat Octavia, so he had to take drastic measures. He put his Sharp Beauty back into his knife holder, and from the sword pocket strapped to his back, he pulled out his favorite sword, Nightmare's Tail. Then, his sword began to change.

The red blade suddenly began to get lighter and brighter until it was an very light orange color, and almost as if it was melting, the blade began to become much longer and slimmer. Octavia had seen Lidio use Nightmare's Tail before, but she never knew he could do something like this. He had used his Dark Magic to transform Nightmare's Tail from a normal, 1-handed sword into a whip of pure energy. He swung the whip to the right, and as it snapped in the air just like a normal whip, there was a sudden small flash that wasn't very strong or big, but enough to get Octavia's attention, and to show what he could do. "Ooh! Would you look at this folks!" shouted a man who acted as the announcer and the referee. "It appears to me that Lidio's cheating! We may have to disqualify him from the battle!" but to Octavia's great dismay, they began to shout again, something very indistinct. "I'll let you all decide. Should Lidio be kicked out, or should I let him fight?"

Though her accompanies that were there wanted the battle to end then and there, the rest of the crowd began to chant these words that felt like a knife in Octavia's heart: "Let him fight! Let him fight! Let him fight! Let him fight!"

"Alright then! Lidio will continue his battle!" the announcer shouted. Almost everybody at the stadium cheered and shouted in joy. They just saw a man get cut in 2 and literally pull himself together, and he was to be disqualified just because he's doing what is necessary to keep him alive? They weren't going to take that kind of crap. So they wanted to see Lidio retaliate against the so well praised warrior, Octavia. Octavia began to panic slightly. She had nothing that could help her kill Lidio as long as he had his whip, so she found a shield that Lidio's last opponent left and grabbed it.

"You want to know something Octavia?" Lidio shouted, his voice full of awaken enragement he never used on anyone else. "I could have killed you before this battle even started!" With that, he moved his arm back, and swung his whip to the right to hit Octavia. She was able to block it with the shield, but it threw her off balance for a bit. She regained it only in time to block the next attack that Lidio swung vertically. "Go ahead! Block my attacks all you want, whore! You won't be able to block my attacks forever!" Though she was praying he was wrong, the cold reality hit her that he was correct. She could only block his furious attacks for a time. Nevertheless, she continued to block with her shield, and it was beginning to annoy Lidio, so he tried something different. He whipped to the left, and Octavia set up her shield to block, but Lidio wasn't aiming for her. When she set up her shield, he used his magic to make his whip wrap around the shield loosely. He tightened his grip on the purple handle, and at the same time, the whip wrapped around the shield even tighter. He yanked the whip with all of his force, and that was all it took, for Octavia was in great shock about what was happening, and she couldn't regain her focus fast enough to make sure Lidio couldn't yank the shield right out of her hand. He then had no problem landing a hit on Octavia. The force was so powerful that it made her drop her sword, and she went to the ground, screaming because of the infliction. The crowd jeered happily, for they knew it was time to finish it. Nightmare's Tail began to contract and darken until it was back to its original form, the 3'5" purple handled and crimson red blade he himself personally fashioned. He began to walk over to Octavia, and her heart began to beat faster and harder. She didn't want to die. She began to move backwards with her arms, trying to drag herself away from Lidio, only to come in contact with the walls of the stadium. Lidio walked to her, and when he got there, her heart was practically trying to break out of her chest. Lidio decided he should wait until Octavia gave him an excuse to not kill her, so instead of finishing it there and now, he simply lifted his right foot up, and kicked her right in the stomach. She had to grit her teeth and close her eyes tight to keep herself from throwing up. Lidio then took his left hand, balled it into a fist, and slammed right against the center of her chest. She groaned in pain, tears beginning to seep past her eyes. When he stopped hitting her, she looked up at him.

"Lidio, please."

"You know something Octavia?" he asked. "You could have killed Lidia when you had the chance, but instead, you left her to die without any honor whatsoever. Why did you refuse to kill her?" Octavia stayed silent. Though Lidio was referring to the cause that had Lidia living with him now, she thought he was talking about the first time they fought. "Why didn't you kill her?!" he asked again, his voice beginning to rise. Once again, she didn't reply, and simply closed her eyes. "TELL ME!" he shouted as he raised his right arm, and began to bring it down to decapitate her.

Only then did Octavia finally answer. "BECAUSE I LOVED HER!" she shouted. Lidio was going to kill her, he really was, but when she told him this, he suddenly stopped his sword from going any farther, right when it was only 5 inches away from coming in contact with her neck. Octavia couldn't take it anymore. She covered her face with her hands and began to cry. The crowd was once again silent they held their breath, waiting for Lidio to finish it. But he didn't. He simply stood there, and stared as Octavia sobbed and wept. The announcer finally said it was time for Lidio to finish it off, and the crowd shouted with agreement. Octavia thought he was going to do it, but instead, he changed his Nightmare's Tail into a crossbow, and aimed it at the announcer,

"Wha-? What are you doing?!" he shouted, but it was too late. Lidio pulled the trigger of the purple crossbow, and a red arrow went right into the announcer's throat. He fell over, dead, and the crowd finally shut up again.

As Octavia began to weep quietly instead of aloud, Lidio turned his sword back to its normal form, and knelt down in front of Octavia. "Look at me." He whispered quietly, but Octavia just continued to weep. "Look at me." he said a little louder. Octavia looked at him, and looked deep into his eyes. There, she didn't see a cold, merciless killer she thought he was, but instead, she saw a child in there. A child; abandoned and wanting to be loved. "Did you truly love my sister?" Octavia nodded. Then she saw something, Lidio slightly smiled a bit. He picked her up, and began to leave the stadium, as the crowd didn't even boo at him, with the fear that they would be next.

XXX

"Why didn't you kill me?" Octavia asked as she and Lidio were walking up a grassy hill. ""You had the perfect opportune time to avenge your sister, but you still spared me."

Lidio sighed, then answered, "Well, if you must know, I never really wanted to kill you in the first place. Though I may deny it, it would only stuff lying into my already full of sin soul. Also, the fact that you actually told me that you loved my sister got me interested. So, I'm taking you with me, and you'll be allowed to live where I do, if you want." Octavia's heart began to overflow with guilt.

"But why?" she asked. "I mean, I literally murdered the only family you actually have left, and I broke your promise to you. I don't think the murderer of your sister deserves any mercy, no matter how much she begs for it."

"…Really?" Lidio asked, finally deciding to tell her the truth. "Well then, be honest with me. Would you be in any way, shape, or form, interested by the fact that Lidia is still alive?"

Octavia immediately stopped walking, and turned her head towards Lidio. "W-w-w-what? Lidia, she-she's still a-alive?" She was basically trying to keep herself from bursting with tears of joy.

**Lidio: OK, wait a minute, wait a minute, stop the Fanfiction.**

** P.M: Ugh! What is it this time Lidio?**

** Lidio: Has it ever occurred to you that you're using tears in this Fanfic a little too much?**

** Octavia: Yeah, he's got a point. In all of your chapters you've posted so far, you've always included something with crying.**

** P.M: Well, guess what? Are you the one who's coming up with all of these ideas?**

** Octavia: Well, um… no, but-**

** P.M: No? Well how about the one who sits here at night to type these stories when he could be playing video games or going on hot dates?**

** Lidio: Look man, we didn't mean to-**

** P.M: Or, are you 2 just disobedient abominations who can't even go along with what the Hell you are told?!**

** Octavia: OK! OK! We get the point! Now, where were we?**

"That's right. Lidia is still breathing. She's living with me, but she can't really walk yet." Lidio said, looking out into the blue, cloudless sky. "It's sort of funny. When I first saw her at the field, after your 2nd fight, she really was dead… I don't really know how to explain it. One minute she was dead, and I was mourning over her, but a couple seconds later, she just starts breathing. But anyway, we're here." They finally made it to a small house made of wood that Lidio himself built. "Whatever you do, make sure the dog don't bite." Octavia didn't exactly know what he meant, so she just followed him in there. When they entered, they were greeted with a little, black, wolf pup, barking at Octavia. Lidio was scolding the dog, telling him to do his 3 S's (sit, salute, and shut up). After the whole thing was done, Octavia and Lidio walked near the door leading to Lidia's room. "Go on ahead. Talk to her."

Octavia looked at him. "Aren't you coming in too?"

Lidio leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms. "No, not really. Lidia's already seen me. It's you that I want her to see again." Octavia, knowing she couldn't argue with Lidio, walked in, and closed the door behind her. And there she lay; the one woman Octavia never thought she would ever see again. She was laying on the bed, the sheets a beautiful snow white. She was stripped down to her dark red undergarments, and on her abdomen was a bandage wrapped snug on her stomach. She had her eyes closed, almost as if she was dead, and she breathed softly in a way that couldn't be heard. Octavia walked up to the bed, and she couldn't hold in her tears.

**Lidio: Again with the tears.**

** P.M: Shut up.**

"I'm so very sorry!" she shouted, and she buried her face into the sheets and began to cry. It was almost too good to be true. She had finally once again met the one that meant the most to her, after thinking that she herself had just murdered her. There was simply too much emotion to be held. Lidia, hearing the sound of another person, awoke from her dreams of the one she loved, and saw her right there, bawling her eyes out.

"O-Octavia?" asked Lidia in a whispering voice. Octavia looked up at her beautiful red eyes. "Octavia, is it really you?" Octavia nodded slightly. She just kept her head facing the ground, thinking that Lidia would be as pissed off as ever. "…Octavia…" Lidia whispered, as she suddenly sat up, and hugged her friend softly. "…I missed you so much." Octavia began to cry again, only this time, they were tears of joy, as she hugged Lidia back.

"I missed you too, Lidia. I don't know how I could live without you." She replied. The 2 women held each other, unaware that Lidio had opened the door to peak in, and was smiling at the sight he saw.

Suddenly there was a loud bark that got all of there attention. "I swear, if you're trying to get that stray cat again-" Lidio shouted as he ran outside to find his dog.

"Lidia, why is Lidio always like that? Why can't he ever be happy?" Octavia asked.

"Oh, yes… Octavia, what you must understand is as a child, things were very, uh… difficult for my brother and I. Our mother was always abusing us when she got the chance, but our father was even worse. He abused all of us when he could, and his breath stunk of alcohol 24/7. So one day, my mom and dad are abusing us, and our dad comes up to me with a knife. He was going to cut me hard. Even with my frantic pleading and struggling from his grip, he held the knife up high. This was only when I was 4, so Lidio was 2 at the time. Then something happened I never dreamed of… Lidio tackles my father down, and with the knife, he continuously and without breaking stabbed him everywhere; heart, lungs, liver, brain, even the testes. When Lidio finally stopped, and when we knew our father was dead, mom thought of what to do with us. She decided if he could kill a man at the age of 2, then he would do something really good in Rubrum, and she sent us both to the army… but it doesn't matter now. We're a family again." Lidia said. Lidio had just got the dog in, and he overheard the last part. Then, he slowly began to remember his little chat with Jesus…

Q: What was one time you cried?

Lidio: WILL YOU FORGET ABOUT THE GOD DAMN TEARS?!


	5. Back At It Again

Lidia's Brother

Chap. 5

P.M: Alright, let's get this thing going.

Lidio: Hold up. I just got one thing to ask.

P.M: What is it this time?

Lidio: Well, you're always putting in these questions in your Fanfictions, and you're expecting people to answer them, but this Fanfic so far got 4 Reviews, and not one of them answered your question. I just want to know why you even bother.

P.M: Well, there's always a chance that people will answer, just like on _A Dark Love,_ and _Not So Good Absolutely Safe Capsule 5._

Lidio: And there's just another thing. Why do you even bother making these stories? You just screw the whole concept up anyway.

P.M: Hey! I make very good Fanfics!

Lidio: And yet you're not getting any reviews on your _Tears of Tiara-Do It Army Style (Gangnam Style Parody), _which you should probably delete before you get sued.

P.M: Dude, relax. We'll just give it a bit of time, ok?

Lidio: Alright, just remember the bet tubby.

P.M: DON'T CALL ME TUBBY!

It's been 2 days since Octavia came to live with Lidia and her brother, Lidio. Things have actually been going pretty well. With Octavia around to watch over Lidia when Lidio wasn't around, he was available to do some of the things he actually enjoyed besides caring for his sister. One of these things included teaching his black wolf pup, Slayer, how to attack people on his command. At first, when Lidio told Slayer to sick 'em, he would just sit there and do nothing. Eventually, he was taught to attack on Lidio's command, but when he told Slayer to sick 'em, he didn't know who he was supposed to attack, and ended up turning on Lidio and nearly tearing him apart. After 15 minutes of mercilessly beating the living Hell out of the dog, Slayer finally learned that when Lidio told him to attack, he wanted him to get the person he was pointing to, and Lidio was able to have the pup attack anyone he wanted. It also gave Lidia and Octavia time to catch up, and tell each other things they never could over the years. Lidia told Octavia about all the battles she had fought while under the Holy Empire's banner, and what a difficult drag it is to be a commanding officer of a bunch of racist drunkards who would do even the dumbest of things to get a bit of fame. She taught about how one of the soldiers once traded Captain Lidio's knife, Sharp Beauty, to a local trader for some wine. They laughed as she talked about when Lidio chased the wagon for 10 miles just to get the knife back.

Octavia also shared some very interesting things. She told Lidia about some of her accompanies that she had fought with all the time she separated herself from the Empire. She also mentioned that she had fought in a lot of competitions and won all of them besides the one where she and Lidio saw each other again (though, just to be safe, she decided to omit the part where she tells Lidia about literally slicing Lidio in half). Then she decided to bring up the fact that she was now one of the 4 wives of the demon king, Arawn. But she quickly noticed that the minute she brought that subject up, Lidia's face immediately hardened. She decided that whatever was wrong with talking about the fact that she was married to a man with 3 other wives, it deeply disturbed her friend, and she hastily decided to change the subject. "So, did you and Lidio see each other often while you were in the army?" she asked, hoping it would take Lidia's mind off the previous subject. Thankfully, it did.

"Not really." she said, looking to the ground, and outlining circles on the sheets of her bed with her fingers. "The last time I actually saw him was when he told me that he was to be sent to this huge war as a captain of the army. From what a lot of the other soldiers told me, it was going to be a battle that nobody would ever survive. Their failure was reported after 4 days of being sent, and after that, I didn't see my brother for 1 year. None of the garrison that Lidio led ever returned, so I just assumed that nobody would have survived, just like everyone had told me, but sure enough, Lidio found a way to get himself back, just in time to save me." Then, Lidia began to talk about something that's been on her mind for days. "Octavia… today is the day where I'm finally allowed to walk again. It will feel good getting out of this bed, and into some clothes, and everything, but that also means that I would have to go back to serving the army. Believe it or not, I've been scarred by the countless screams of pain, and I'm constantly haunted by the voices that begged me for mercy before I slew them. I can't take it anymore!... I don't want to go back to that. I want to stay here the rest of my life. I want to be with Lidio, with all of the people I care about… with you."

An hour afterwards, Lidio and Octavia stood by the bed looking at Lidia. After a few minutes of pure silence, Lidio bent down and began to unwrap the bandages from her stomach. Most of the wound was healed, but there were still a few small areas where the skin was cut open, so Lidio placed his left hand on her stomach, began to mutter something indistinct, and healing whatever time failed to. After that all happened, Lidio took his sister by the hand, and with the help of his new family member (as Lidio told Octavia to think of each other as brother and sister), stood Lidia up, and helped her walk a little bit. Lidio gave Lidia her clothing, and she put it on. "So big sister, how does it feel to be up and moving again?" he asked.

"Oh, it's a bit difficult to get used to again," she said. "but I think I'll be able to make it." Lidio smiled, then sat down.

Octavia remembered what Lidia had told her. '_I would have to go back to serving the army. Believe it or not, I've been scarred by the countless screams of pain, and I'm constantly haunted by the voices that begged me for mercy before I slew them. I can't take it anymore!' _rang through her head like a broken record. She had to say something. "Hey, Lidio?" she asked shyly, becoming a bit nervous of what he would tell her when he answered her question. "Um… now that your sister is up and walking again, what do you plan to do?"

"Well, naturally, we would go back to the army…" he started, but his voice beginning to trail off as he began to think for a minute. Lidia looked to the ground sad, along with Octavia, but Lidio didn't even notice. "…but, then again…" both women's eyes darted up to him as he rubbed his hairless chin in thought. "I really don't have any love for this God-forsaken kingdom. Just as any empire will, the Holy Empire of Rubrum will eventually fall and have to answer to the Almighty One, just as the ancient Roman Empire had to, no matter how 'holy' it claims to be. So… why should we bother defending a kingdom that was doomed to fall from the start of its creation, when we can just remain here and let it blow over?" He stood up, for he had made up his mind. After having a bit of food for thought, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. "Naturally we would return to the army, just like I told them, but I don't think we will." Octavia didn't even know what to say.

"For real Lidio? We don't have to go back to the army?!" Lidia shouted, unable to restrict her joy. There were simply no words, phrases, or definitions that could describe how Lidia was feeling. She thought that she had just been given a God-given miracle.

Lidio walked up to the women, and put his hands on one of each of their shoulders. "Octavia, Lidia, here in this little house of ours, all of us are a family. Now Lidia, you get yourself cleaned up, considering the fact that you haven't bathed in over a week. There's a lake close to us." Lidia slightly blushed at the fact that she, the once commander of Rubrum, was taking orders from the once captain of Rubrum, considering that it was always the other way around. Lidia began to leave, and Lidio took Octavia to the back of the house to talk to her. "Listen, since I feel that I can trust you with this, I want you to keep a real careful eye on my sister."

"But why? She's already getting used to the fact that she doesn't have to lay around in bed and do nothing all day, and she seems to be so full of energy." Octavia asked, but Lidio only seemed to go on.

"She just got those bandages removed, in case you didn't notice. Though she seems to be in seemingly perfect shape, I don't exactly know how fragile that stomach is yet. When I found her out on the field, her guts were sliding there way out of her cut, and just for safe measures, I don't want her to get too riled up, and then having to deal with that problem again, you dig?" he told her. Octavia, starting to see his logic, nodded her head in agreement. "Good. As I said, I want you to keep an eye on my sister… now, where's the nearest tavern?"

XXX

Lidia and Octavia were doing what they did in the old days; pretend to sword fight with wooden swords on a grassy area full of pink and yellow flowers. It was a magical scene to behold, and everything seemed to be absolutely perfect for once. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the sweet aroma of dandelions and roses filled the air. It's been a full week since Lidia got up and walking again, and she was steadily getting more and more active by the day. In fact, this day, she was in such great shape, that he let Octavia and her play outside without him watching, as he laid by a nearby tree and took a nap. Besides the fact that when people first see him, the very first thing they notice was his scar, there would be no sensible person with any feeling that could say he didn't look peaceful.

Lidia and Octavia played with their wooden swords just like they did when they were little kids. Then, something began to appear in Octavia's mind. While she tried to ignore it at first, she eventually couldn't take it, as she was beginning to have flashbacks to the moments she and Lidia fought. She was originally playing just for fun, but her flashbacks gave her an unsettling feeling, and she began to fight a little harder. She had no idea what she was doing, until she saw her friend rolling down the hill, and laying down, as if she passed out. Octavia realized that her sudden change in seriousness caused it, and she half expected Lidio to sense something was wrong and come running, but he just laid his head on the tree and slept. She ran down to Lidia. "Lidia? Are you ok?" she asked, not getting a response. She turned her so her face was facing her.

Lidia suddenly grabbed Octavia by the shoulders and pulled her down hard. This sudden movement caught Octavia off guard, and she fell right on top of Lidia. Lidia laid there on the grassy bottom of the hill, and laughed happily as she got the look on Octavia's face. It had been such a long time since Octavia heard Lidia's laugh of genuine fun, and she herself couldn't help but start laughing herself. "Hahaha! Oh Octavia! It's been such a long time since we've had so much fun together."

"Yeah. It has been, hasn't it?" Octavia replied, staring into Lidia's eyes. She just wanted to kiss her there and now, but fought back her urges. "Oh! Um.. I'm sorry." she said as she began to get off Lidia, only to be stopped by Lidia before she fully got up.

"What? Getting off so soon?" Lidia asked. It was now her turn to stare longingly into the other woman's eyes. "I don't really mind at all." Octavia didn't exactly know what to do at a time like this.

"Um… I, uh… I laid right on you."

"Mmhm. And what's the problem with that?" Lidia replied. Both women stared into their eyes. Lidia put her right hand on Octavia's left cheek. "…You have such beautiful eyes…" she whispered to Octavia.

Octavia couldn't help but stare back at her eyes. "…You too…" she whispered back. Octavia out her right hand on Lidia's left cheek. The 2 stared at each other for 5 seconds, then closed their eyes, and began to move their faces closer and closer, and they were going to press their lips together…

Just before the 2 friends could finally tell each other that they totally forgave each other for everything they might have done to harm each other by one passionate kiss, they heard the whinnying of a horse, and looked to another direction, where they saw knights of Rubrum riding towards them. They felt like making a run for it, but before they knew it, the 2 were grabbed and placed on horses, as the knights made their way to the tree Lidio napped on. "Captain Lidio?" said one of the knights, waking Lidio up. "You're coming with us."

Lidio only stared at the knights coldly. "Can't you see I'm taking a nap, ass holes?" he said. The knights, not being very patient, bashed him on the back of the head with his shield and knocked him out cold.

XXX

Lidio, Lidia, and Octavia walked in the hallway of the castle being led by the royal guards, into the throne room, where they saw the man named Arthur sitting on the throne. "So, you 3 are the ones that abandoned this whole kingdom, just so you can live your lives as you want them?" Arthur asked. "…Well, no matter. I have 2 things that I am to tell you. The first thing concerns only you, Octavia. I have a message to you from Arawn. He wrote down that because you have refused to return, he has decided that you do not need him. From what he writes down… you're no longer his wife." This news brought a shocked expression to Octavia's face. In her days of living with her 2 friends, she had completely forgotten about Arawn. She bowed her head, but not really in shame, mostly to hide the smile she was making.

"The 2nd thing concerns all 3 of you." he continued on. "We've been pursuing a certain thief for quite some time, but we've been unable to get him. We've heard that you 3 are very powerful warriors, and I think we could use your service. So, we want you 3 to go into TrapFoot Jungle, and find him." The name TrapFoot Jungle suddenly brought a look of shock on Lidio. "We'll reward you handsomely if you do so."

Octavia and Lidia were about to talk about their decision, before Lidio suddenly stepped forward. "No! We're not doing it! No way, no how, are we going into that God damn place!" he said coldly, but there was a slight tinge of fear in his voice.

"We can reward you greatly for services, as I have said." Arthur had told him.

"Oh great! And what's all the fucking gold in the kingdom going to mean to us if we never make it back?" Lidio replied. This made Arthur increasingly angry.

"Do you know that I am now the king of Rubrum?!" he shouted. "I am now the king of the Holy Empire, and you will do what I tell you to!"

Lidio obviously was in no mood to listen to him. "Now you listen to me good." he ordered. "I've been in TrapFoot Jungle before, and I nearly ended up dying, while a friend of mine did die." Lidia and Octavia looked at him. There was so much fear rising in his voice, there was no doubt that he wasn't lying.

"…You are a man of many virtues, yes Lidio?" Arthur asked. Lidio didn't respond, but Arthur kept going. "If this thief is able to get through TrapFoot Jungle, he may harm that race of Amazons, understand? And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"

Lidio sighed solemnly. "Fine, but I'll do it for them, not for your greedy ass."

"Fine, you 3 depart at once." Arthur said, and the 3 began to walk out. "Oh, um… Octavia, could you come here for a moment?" While the other 2 walked out, she stayed. "I understand that losing your husband may be hard, so I might be able to remedy the situation." He held out his hand, and expected Octavia to take it. "All you have to do is take my hand, and as soon as this whole mess is solved, I will take you as my wife. Deal?" Octavia, reluctant about her choice, took Arthur's hand, a sign that she accepts the proposal.

"Yes. When this is all done, I will marry you." Then Octavia walked out of the castle, where Lidia and Lidio were waiting for you. Lidia, not knowing of what Octavia had just done, decided to sympathize for her because of her being unmarried. "I am so sorry this happened Octavia. I feel like it's all my fault." Octavia told her it was not her fault, as the 3 made their way to their possible doom.

Q: Who's your favorite Tears of Tiara character?

Lidio: Including me, right?

P.M: Are you in the anime? No you are not.

Lidio: I want to be one of the God damn options!

P.M: Eesh, what the Hell's your problem.

Lidio: You're changing the scenes to damn fast! Slow the Hell down! I can barely keep up with all of this!

P.M: Well, if it makes you feel any better…

(re)Q: Who's your favorite Tears of Tiara character? (Yes, all OC characters an option, but I want to know why you like the OC character [on second thought, why you like any character you put down], and I want to know from what Fanfiction he/she is from, otherwise I won't know who the fuck you're talking about)


	6. Into The TrapFoot Jungle

Lidia's Brother

Chap. 6

P.M: OK, so here we are again with the next chapter.

Arawn: So… how exactly will the bet you and Lidio had work, considering the fact nobody won?

P.M: Oh, please don't remind me of it.

Warning: Lemon (reason this is M)

Octavia and Lidia couldn't help but notice that Lidio's been sort of pissed off ever since they were sent to this place they called TrapFoot Jungle. When they kept asking him why he was so mad at Arthur, and when he said that he didn't want to talk about it, he said it in a very hostile way. Maybe it had to do with the knowledge of where they were going, or maybe he just hated Arthur with all of his heart. Perhaps there was something else that was making him a bit more inconsiderate than usual, like maybe the fact that he knew he wouldn't be able to just kick back and be lazy for a while. Then again, those words he had said were still fresh in both of their minds. '-and a friend of mine did die.' were Lidio's exact words. They had originally thought that he was just saying things so he would have an excuse not to go over there, but now they were starting to wonder if what he said was true. It should also be stated that Lidio was many things; murderer, thief, torturer, and a bunch of other ungodly things, but he was never a liar. Was this the first time he would fib, or did he actually once go to TrapFoot Jungle?

"Hey, Lidio?" Octavia said reluctantly. Because of the fact that Lidio wasn't in a very memorable mood, she just decided to 'indirectly' ask Lidio if he was really here or not. "Listen, we've never actually heard of such a place like this, so is there anything we should know before we go in?"

"Asking for advice from someone who has personal experience, are you?" Lidio asked, trying to sound as cool as he could. Octavia and Lidia kept their mouths shut, not daring to answer. Lidio sighed and continued, "Well, the TrapFoot Jungle is a place that was unexplored for hundreds of years. Nobody knew it existed, and honestly, I think it would have been a lot better if it all stayed that way. Hell, after one guy actually explored the place, and began ranting about all of this bullshit about great treasures, millions of people began to explore that God-forsaken place, and do you know what? At least ¾ of all those millions of people never made it out." Lidio wasn't being all 'It'll be OK" or 'Nothing to worry about' at all. He was laying it flat on the table that he believed none of them would ever make it out of their again. "A lot of people, considering the fact that people rarely got out, and when they did, they would always live in solitaire for the rest of their lives, people began to speculate that TrapFoot Jungle is actually all the things that the Great Flood had left of the Garden of Eden. But honest truth, I would love nothing more than to call that theory off."

They kept quite for a little while more, and when they finally got to a place surrounded by many trees, Lidio gave a solemn nod to signify that they had arrived at their destination. It wasn't really anything that looked too deadly. The sun's light entered through the trees, so there was no way that they could have died by not knowing where they were walking. It wasn't too hot, nor was it too cold, and felt rather like a warm spring day, just like the outside. Octavia and Lidia couldn't help but wonder what was so dangerous about this place, and until they had a full knowledge, they simply couldn't just take Lidio's word for it. "Lidio, what exactly makes this place such a gruesome nightmare?" Octavia asked.

"Ah, finally, an important question." Lidio stated. "Well, if you must know, there are actually 3 things, well, 2 for sure, that cause this nightmarish place to get its reputation."

Before Lidio went on, his older sister had accidentally stepped in a puddle of some kind ob black fluid with her right foot. She grabbed her leg and began to pull furiously on it, but the liquid was so sticky, it kept a hold of it. "Agh! Octavia! Lidio!" she shouted, getting both of their attention before they went ahead to the point where they wouldn't hear her. Both of them ran back to Lidia, grabbed her leg, and along with her, they tugged on her right leg as hard as they could. The liquid itself was like a dog and its bone, for it had a hold of Lidia's foot, and it wasn't going to let go without a fight. The 3 took a seconds breather, and tugged on the leg again, but still unable to get it out. Then, they tugged 1 more time, and the fluid finally released the woman's leg. All 3 of them laid on the soft, warm dirt, panting.

"…Well, my older sister just discovered one of the terrible factors, and the biggest reason people don't make it." Lidio said. "The TrapFoot Jungle will definitely stay true to the name, and it will take a hold of your feet and not let you go easily if you're not careful. Quicksand, tar pools, clay bogs, anything that you can sink in and have a great amount of difficulty trying to escape, this damned to Hell forest has."

"W-w-wait. There are g-gonna be more of these puddles out there?" Lidia stuttered.

"And some of them are going to be much larger than that one." Lidio added in. If that was one of his terrible attempts to try to comfort her, once again, it failed to work. "The 2nd reason why this place is such a deathtrap, possibly by far the most dangerous, are its inhabitants."

"Seriously? There are people who live here?" Octavia questioned.

"Oh yes. They are a group of very skilled hunters and fighters known as the Amazons. They are a female only group, you see, but they are, by far, much more dangerous than any villainous man in today's world would ever dream. Sometimes, from what I hear, they just shoot you from the trees while you expect it least, making things a lot quicker and merciful. Sometimes, when there is a person sinking in one of these adhesive fluids around here, they would just kill them while they are still sinking, save them the bother of drowning. However, from what I hear, when they see someone sinking to their doom, they won't do anything at all. They'll only just watch you sink, while you know that no matter how much you struggle, no matter how many times you beg for them to help you, they'll just let you sink to your fate."

Lidia was actually perplexed on how he carried all of this knowledge. Surely, he must have met one of these female only hunters once before? And if he did, how did the 2 react when they saw each other? "Why are they only female?" Lidia asked. She had so many questions on her mind, so she wanted to get an answer that her brother wouldn't be afraid to answer.

Lidio scoffed slightly. "They see men as a bunch of slobbering pigs; that they have no value whatsoever except for breeding purposes. They think that women are the perfect creation, and that men have no sentimental value at all. I'm not 100% sure where they got that crazy idea; the idea that one sex is automatically superior to the other. I've seen the souls of many people; man and woman; boy and girl; none of them had a cleaner soul than another of the opposite sex. Maybe they think so because of a little thing they have that no other human does. The Amazons have this thing going on that as long as they do not have any relations with any mortal man, they would be unable to die by age."

"They're immortal?" Octavia questioned. She thought a bit about that, to think that as long as she never gives herself to the pleasures of a man, she would be able to live forever.

"Well, not exactly." Lidio responded. "I said that they would be unable to die 'by age'. I never said that they would live forever. They can only keep their eternal life as long as they do not mate with any mortal male, or as long as they can avoid receiving any mortal wounds, or anything that can kill a regular person for that manner. That's why people call this place TrapFoot Jungle. While it's able to steal the lives of many that dare to come near it, but it also has a very nasty habit of taking away the lives of the very people that live in it."

'And all of that danger is only 2 things…' Lidia and Octavia thought to themselves. If all of this is real, for all they know, that criminal could already be dead. They eagerly listened for the 3rd danger.

"And finally, we have one that is only said to exist, but only by the first one to ever make it out alive." Lidio went on. "According to that crazy old coot, somewhere, deep inside the very center of this Jungle, there lies a very valuable and priceless idol that's worth more than all of the copper, silver, and gold in the world combined." Lidio looked over at Octavia and Lidia, and even though both of them were keeping their eyes on the dirt, Lidio knew that they were both thinking about the same thing. "But, it's just what someone says. Nobody else who's journeyed in here and made it out alive ever mentioned anything about the idol, but when the 1st one talked about it, he claimed that it had a mind of its own… that it drove his accompanies mad… and into their deaths." he continued, hoping that the 2 were paying attention long enough to heed his warning.

XXX

The 3 had been aimlessly wandering in the tree-infested Hellhole for a full hour now, and they were looking around, trying to find out if they had been doing nothing but mindlessly walking in complete circles for that 1 hour. So far, they were lucky enough to be walking around that long and not to have run into anything that could prove fatal to them. But their good luck seemed to have suddenly run out when they saw that there was a huge fork in the path. One way led to the left, and the other led the person to go more to the right. "How are we supposed to know which way to go?" Lidio asked as he looked back and forth from both of the pathways.

"Lidio, though it may be very hard to do, I think we'll have to split up." Octavia suggested, fully expecting Lidio's reaction.

"What?! Split up?! But what about my sister?! We can't just split up after she just got walking again!"

"Lidio, you don't have to worry about me at all." Lidia ensured. "I've made it this far through the TrapFoot Jungle without any help, so I should be able to make it by myself." Lidio paced around for a bit, obviously fully against the idea, but he knew that there was no better way to make it out of the TrapFoot Jungle alive, even if he didn't want to admit it.

He walked up to the 2 women, and said in a quiet voice, as if he just remembered that they may have been being watched, "I'm going to take the path on the left, and I want both of you to take the right path. Not just one of you, but both of you. Do you understand?" They were about to argue, when they talked it over amongst themselves, and decided that might be a good idea. So, while Lidio began walking on the path that went to the left, Lidia and Octavia both took the path that led to the right.

Lidio walked along the path he had chosen like a baby who is first learning to walk. They really have no idea what they are doing, nor do they have any goal in mind whatsoever. Lidio just wanted to find something, something that wouldn't remind him so much of his cruel experience there. He continued walking, and turned his head left, and his pale skin became even whiter when he saw what he saw. He saw a big quicksand bog, and in it, hanging from a tree, there was a long vine, which Lidio could only assume that that was the vine he had used, considering the fact he knew the terrain around the area. It was too much for him. He couldn't take it.

He began to run ahead, running as fast as he could from that insupportable fragment of his first time at the God-forsaken place. When he had reached a sufficient distance, he stopped, bent down to where his hands could touch his knees, and began panting out of exhaustion and sorrow. It was then, when he wasn't running from it, that the memory he tried so desperately to avoid finally came back to haunt him.

_FLASHBACK_

_It was something that their army officers would have murdered them for if they were ever discovered, but they really didn't care._

_It was just the 2 of them, 19-year-old Lidio and his 21-year-old friend, Saul, running through the jungle that everyone called big and terrifying, but they didn't really see anything bad about it. Their officers had warned them that if they would ever wander into that jungle and make it out alive, then they would be whipped until they could see the white of their spines. But they came to the conclusion that they had already been whipped hundreds of times, so they thought there was actually nothing they could do to threaten them._

"_Yo, Lidio! Come check this out!" Saul said when he was staring out from behind a bush. Lidio usually thought that when someone wants you to look at something, it's usually not really a good thing, but his curiosity got the best of him, and he too peered out from behind the bush to look at what Saul was watching. They saw a small tribe, full of young, beautiful women dancing. These women wore only braziers and skirts or thongs made out of animal skins. On most occasions, the 2 would have known better than to be spying on women, but after taking once glance of the literally flawless beauty of the tribe women, they finally did what most men would do, and think with their testicles instead of their brains. The 2 friends completely lost track of everything else, and can only admire the women that they lustfully stared at._

_Suddenly, when they least expected it, a bow, with an arrow at the ready, suddenly became face in front of them. The sudden sight of the weapon caused the 2 men to jump back and land on their backs. They took their gaze up slightly, and saw, by far, the most beautiful woman in the entire tribe. She had a lot of shiny, hot pink hair even longer than Lidio's, and she wore a tiger skinned bra and thong. Her breasts were bigger than any of the other tribe ladies, and her stomach was only slightly rounded. Lidio can only stare at her magenta colored eyes. If he had not gone back to thinking with his head again, he would have got to his knees and ask her to marry him. "And what are a couple of men like you doing near our village?" she asked silently, as if she didn't want the others to hear her. "Spying on our dances, were you? You men are all the same." She put so much emphasis on the word men that there was no doubt she hated them. She pulled the bow string back, and was ready to fire._

_That's when Lidio got up to his knees and began to plead with the woman. "Please don't hurt us, ma'am. We're very sorry we did something like this. I swear, we don't usually do this."_

_With any other man, the woman would have just shot them down there on the spot, but with Lidio, she found amusement on how the words please had come out of his lips while no other man she met has ever said that word. "Hm… no man has ever said please to me." she said with an ever so slight smirk on her face. "Tell me your names, men."_

"_Um… I am Saul, and this is my best friend, Lidio. We are soldiers of the Holy Empire of Rubrum."_

_The woman nodded her head and lowered her bow. "My name is Chania, and I am the princess of the Amazons." the woman, who said her name was Chania, said. She could tell by the looks of their faces that Saul and Lidio had no idea what the Hell an Amazon was. "If you are wondering, an Amazon is a woman who can never die of age as long as she does not have relations with a man."_

"_Wait, aren't those basically those Hunter chicks in Greek Mythology?" Lidio questioned, not realizing how much offense Amazons take when they call them simply hunters. Saul elbowed Lidio slightly, only hard enough to get a small reaction._

"_Do you allow your friend to make such remarks?" Chania asked, obviously offended. Her magenta eyes seemed to have held a bit of fire, and it made Lidio cringe slightly._

"_I-I'm very sorry if I said anything I shouldn't have." Lidio began. "I didn't know-" Chania immediately put her finger over her lips._

"_Ssh! Stay quite. If the others find out that you're here, they're gonna kill you. Leave while you still can." she whispered at them, and the 2 began to run, just in case one of those Amazons caught sight of them. They kept running until Saul tripped and fell. Lidio stopped, and Saul tried to get back up, but when he did, he realized that his feet were stuck. He began to pull on his legs, but he began to sink lower and lower into the earth, a red flag that he was caught in quicksand. He was already pelvis-deep, pushing his arms down on the surface to try to escape the sands, but to no avail. Lidio grabbed a vine and threw it to Saul. He grabbed it. Lidio pulled as hard as he could, and he was succeeding in freeing Saul, but his grip slipped from the vine, and he fell on his back, while the vine went into the sands with Saul._

"_Lidio! Help me!" Saul shouted. Lidio's mind was running wild. He didn't know what he would do. Then, he did something that would forever scar his honor._

_He turned around, and ran as far as he could, forsaking Saul to sink into the sands. He didn't really know too well what he was doing until he heard Saul's voice from afar scream, "You bastard Lidio! May you burn in the deepest pits of Hell for all eternity!" When he was finally out of TrapFoot Jungle, he immediately fell to the ground, and began bitterly weeping. He had just left his best friend ever to die a horrible and gruesome death all alone. He would have to report what had happened, and also tell his king about a soldier's death…_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Lidio snapped out of his horrible memory when he began to feel another presence. He drew his sword out, for he knew he wasn't alone. He kept walking slowly, looking from left to right, knowing he wasn't alone. He came to a stop, stood there quietly for a few seconds, and finally quickly turned around, pointing Nightmare's Tail out. At the same time, the woman that had been following him for a bit now held up her bow and pointed her arrow right in the center of Lidio's forehead. The 2 simply stood there, with their weapons at the ready. The woman had a lot of pink hair, longer than Lidio's, and she wore a tiger-skinned bra and thong; she had very big breasts, and her belly was slightly rounded. "…You're lucky I was able to recognize you Lidio." the woman said as she lowered her bow.

"Likewise…Chania." Lidio scoffed as he put Nightmare's Tail back into its holder.

"What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you said that you would never return to this place for as long as you live."

"Hey, come on. You're acting like you're not the least bit happy to see me." Lidio said in his very rare joking tone. Chania, not very amused, simply raised an eyebrow at him. Lidio, still having a playful smile on his face, shrugged, and the 2 began to walk forward. "If you must know, Princess, I really didn't want to come here. That retard of a new king of Rubrum apparently let some thief escape into here, and since all kings of a great empire are seemingly to lazy to get off their bum asses, he sent us to find a criminal that's probably already drowned and dead. Any more questions?" Lidio asked.

"…Well, when I was on one of my little nature walks, I caught sight of a thief talking to 2 people." Chania informed him. "If I remember correctly, one was obese and tall, the other was short and scrawny, and they both wore these strange masks that covered their faces."

Lidio suddenly ceased to walk. Chania continued, completely not noticing Lidio wasn't on her right side. Then, when she finally noticed this, she turned her head back, and saw Lidio just standing there, as if he was in a trance. His arms and hands were shaking like an earthquake, his pupils shrunk into tiny black spheres, sweat was coming down from his face, and his breathing was unnaturally fast and hard. Something about what Chania had just said spooked him. "…W-w-what did the masks look like?" he managed to stutter.

"Well, if I'm remembering correctly, they were metal, grey masks, with an ugly, eerie smile engraved into each one. It only covered their faces, but they had black cloaks that could… Lidio, why do you ask?"

"…Nothing… it was just a dream I had a few nights ago." he answered, trying not to let her know that there was something in that description that haunted him.

XXX

The 3 had been aimlessly wandering in the tree-infested Hellhole for a full hour now, and they were looking around, trying to find out if they had been doing nothing but mindlessly walking in complete circles for that 1 hour. So far, they were lucky enough to be walking around that long and not to have run into anything that could prove fatal to them. But their good luck seemed to have suddenly run out when they saw that there was a huge fork in the path. One way led to the left, and the other led the person to go more to the right. "How are we supposed to know which way to go?" Lidio asked as he looked back and forth from both of the pathways.

"Lidio, though it may be very hard to do, I think we'll have to split up." Octavia suggested, fully expecting Lidio's reaction.

"What?! Split up?! But what about my sister?! We can't just split up after she just got walking again!"

"Lidio, you don't have to worry about me at all." Lidia ensured. "I've made it this far through the TrapFoot Jungle without any help, so I should be able to make it by myself." Lidio paced around for a bit, obviously fully against the idea, but he knew that there was no better way to make it out of the TrapFoot Jungle alive, even if he didn't want to admit it.

He walked up to the 2 women, and said in a quiet voice, as if he just remembered that they may have been being watched, "I'm going to take the path on the left, and I want both of you to take the right path. Not just one of you, but both of you. Do you understand?" They were about to argue, when they talked it over amongst themselves, and decided that might be a good idea. So, while Lidio began walking on the path that went to the left, Lidia and Octavia both took the path that led to the right.

Everything almost seemed like a dream for Octavia and Lidia. For the first time in a long while, the 2 were both alone as friends. At this time Octavia had completely forgotten about how she had accepted Arthur's proposal, and she had no memory about making that promise. Neither did Lidia or Lidio know about the proposal. Octavia, still trying to think of that memory, knowing that she had somehow forgotten something important, suddenly remembered that moment before they came to TrapFoot Jungle, when the 2 were staring lovingly at each other, and it came into mind.

They had almost kissed.

She couldn't believe she was going to have led herself and Lidia to such a grave sin. Her mother and father had always taught her that love was only to be between a man and a woman, nut they never taught her anything about loving a person of the same sex. She had always just grown up, thinking that if she was to be a good person, she had to be married to a man, and that loving another woman was an offense against nature almost punishable by death.

Lidia was likewise remembering that little moment. The only difference was that she wasn't mad at herself for nearly kissing another woman, but moreover, she was hating herself because she had the perfect moment then and there to tell Octavia what was really locked inside her heart for all of those years. She too was taught that love was supposed to be between a man and a woman, but unlike Octavia, she was a little more willing to ignore what she was taught. Lidia wanted so much to tell Octavia how she felt, and see if the 2 would be able to work anything out. And since Arawn had seemingly thrown Octavia out, it wouldn't be considered adultery if they did, for Lidia had not yet learned about Octavia and Arthur's little proposal.

XXX

It was getting very dark outside, and the stars were plentiful in the dark blue sky, along with the beautiful light of the crescent moon. Chania had told Lidio that if they kept going when it got too late, it would be pitch-black outside, and they would be unable too see where they were going. Lidio, thinking that since she lived there she would have a lot of knowledge, decided to follow her advice, as the 2 got a fire going for the night. "So then, I spent the next couple of hours searching every single part of floor in the castle, from corner to corner, trying to find Sharp Beauty. I came to one knight and asked him if he'd seen it, and he told me, 'Oh yeah, the knife? Um… you're gonna think this is real funny, um… I think I sold it to one of those traveling merchants that were recently in the area'. I literally, honestly to God, ran for miles just to catch up to that wagon and get my knife back." Lidio said as the 2 just sat there by the fire. The both of them spent a bit of time laughing, and settled down to relax by the fire.

"You know Lidio, every single other man I met were usually all the same." Chania said, scooting a bit closer to Lidio, which in turn caused him to start blushing a little bit. "A lot of the men I meet are lazy, greedy, or cowardly, sometimes all of those at once… but you Lidio, you're much different. You have a very high code of respect."

Lidio really didn't know what exactly to say at that moment. If Chania were to look at Lidio at that moment, she would have seen a warrior's face completely red, and if she were to touch his forehead, she would definitely notice a bit of heavy sweating there. "…Well, not all men are like that, just to let you know. But I know that there are people like that. One example being my father. He was a constant drunk, taking advantage of everybody."

It was the first time Lidio ever mentioned his father to Chania. "You never mentioned your father before. What is he like now?"

"Probably burning in Hell." Lidio said. "I killed him when I was, like, maybe 4 or 5." Chania looked at him with a shocked expression. She didn't know Lidio would actually murder his own parent. "My sister will often times get that day wrong, and for some reason, she remembers it happening when I was 2… the whole reason my old man is dead is because I couldn't bear watching him hurt my sister…"

Chania could only sit there, and think of what he had just said. Did that mean that if one of her friends were to threaten his sister, he wouldn't stop until he saw every last drop of blood escape her body? Chania looked at Lidio again, and saw the same 19-year-old she met years ago. She scooted close to him again, until their arms were almost touching, and put her right hand on Lidio's right shoulder. Lidio turned to her, and she couldn't help but giggle at seeing how red Lidio's face was; it was just so unnatural for his pale as snow skin. "You know, our little deal with whoever's 'up there' states that we can't have relations with any mortal man, lest we lose our agelessness." she whispered in his ear. Lidio couldn't help but get an erection from this, but Chania either didn't notice, or she did see it, and that's why she went on. "So, I just wish that I could somehow convince our priestess to grant you with the ability to not age… then, I could have a relation with you, without having it with a 'mortal' man."

Lidio was now feeling what he had never felt before. For the first time in his life, Lidio was in love with another person. He wanted it to go on, but he also wanted it to end so bad. Luckily for him, Chania decided to stop torturing him, and said, "Well, we better get some sleep." So the 2 laid their heads on the ground, and closed their eyes to go to sleep.

XXX

Octavia laid there on the ground, in nothing but her undergarments, staring at the beautiful starry sky. She decided to try to give Lidia some privacy, for Lidia decided to sleep in nothing at all, completely naked. Lidia had said that she was a bit warm, so she didn't want to stay up all night because she was too hot (even though the real reason was that Lidia simply wanted Octavia to look at it). Octavia stared at the starry sky and wondered what exactly was going to happen to her and the others after all of this crap got done. Would they be allowed to leave, and live their lives the way they wanted to? Or would they once again be forced to serve under the Holy Empire's banner? She was almost beginning to remember Arthur's proposal…

Suddenly, she felt 2 cold arms wrap around her abdomen, and a pair of hands touching her stomach. She didn't have to ask who it was, for Lidia gave the answer when she whispered into Octavia's ear, saying, "What are you doing all the way here? Shouldn't you be by the fire with me?" She said these words in a very soft tone.

"Oh, uh…" Octavia couldn't look at Lidia, or else she would let her see just how much she was blushing. "I, uh… just couldn't get much sleep, is all."

"Mhm, ok." Lidia said softly. "I just came over here to talk to you about something." Lidia responded. If Octavia would have turned to face her, she would have seen a sly little smirk on Lidia's face. "Well, here's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, if I remember correctly, you told me something back at the battlefield after my momentary death… I can't exactly remember what it is you said. Do you think, you could… remind me?" It didn't take Octavia 2 seconds to figure out that Lidia was talking about when she told Lidia that she loved her when she thought she was good as dead. Octavia was starting to catch on. She knew what Lidia was trying to get at.

"L-L-Lidia, w-we were always taught that love was only to be between a man and a woman. We can't just-"

"Yes, they did teach us that stuff, didn't they?" Lidia interrupted, beginning to rub Octavia's bare stomach with her right hand. Octavia had to bite her own tongue to keep from moaning because of how good the massage felt. "Octavia, you're so afraid of doing things against how you've always known them. You're afraid of spending you're love on what you want to spend it on… Octavia, it's ok if you love another woman. They were all wrong, all of them. Love doesn't have to be just between a man and a woman." Lidia buried her face into Octavia's silky, yellow hair, and sniffed it pleasurably.

Octavia turned around, and looked at Lidia face-to-face, both of them staring at each other lovingly in the eyes. "I'm… I'm not afraid to spend my love." Octavia said, her tongue tripping over her words.

"Really?" Lidia said softly, putting her right hand on Octavia's left cheek. "Well then, show me."

The 2 stared at each other for a few more seconds, until Octavia put her right arm on Lidia's face. The 2 moved in closer to each other, both of them slowly closing their eyes. The 2 closed their eyes completely, and pressed their lips together. It was a truly magnificent sight that many others would have never thought would come true. Octavia and Lidia, 2 women who had both known each other for years, finally let the other know that she loved her; not by words, not by risks, but instead, by 1, passionate kiss. Lidia moved her tongue into Octavia, and Octavia eagerly allowed her entrance. Their tongues danced with each other in a way neither of the 2 could describe.

They broke apart after 1 full minute, disconnecting their lips, a trail of saliva between their mouths. They only stopped momentarily to take a big breath, and immediately continued kissing right afterwards. They were no longer in their sitting position. Octavia was on top of Lidia, both of them keeping their lips together like they were glued, and their tongues dancing as if there was no tomorrow. While the 2 were still kissing, Lidia moved her hands from Octavia's bare stomach to her back, aiming to take off Octavia's brazier. She did it slowly, because she wasn't exactly sure if Octavia would allow it, but when Octavia figured out what she was doing, she broke up their kiss, smiled sweetly at Lidia, and guided her hands to the back strap of her bra. Lidia undid the undergarment, slipped it off of Octavia's body, and stared admiringly at Octavia's bare breasts. The 2 looked at the other in the eyes, smiled in a very loving way, and began to kiss once again.

The both of them were enjoying the 1 pleasure life had offered back that they desired with all of their hearts; kissing the other woman that had been loved by her for as long as they lived, deep in the dark, bare breasts pressing against each other, but the 2 were not willing to stop there. They wanted more. While they were still kissing, Octavia guided Lidia's hands once again, this time, heading for the underwear that covered the part of her body she had never once (not even with Arawn) given to anyone. Lidia wrapped her fingers around said undergarment, and began to slowly pull it down until she couldn't reach any farther. The 2 broke up their kiss, which had lasted for 1 minute 30 seconds, and looked at each other, breathing hard, yet silently.

Octavia took the time to completely remove the underwear from her legs, so that just like Lidia, she was completely stripped of her garments. With Lidia still lying on the ground, Octavia placed her hands on Lidia's breasts, and began to massage them so very gently to the point where if it was any softer, it would be impossible to feel. However, it was able to be felt enough to let a soft pleasurable moan escape from Lidia. Lidia had never been touched in such a sensitive spot in her life, though Octavia wasn't anywhere near finished yet. She stopped massaging the breasts of her new lover, and moved her face closer to her left one. She then put her mouth over the nipple, and began to suck and lightly bite it as if she was a baby being breastfed. Lidia put her head back and moaned in pleasure once more, only this one was a bit louder than the last. Octavia didn't stop until her belly felt the wet presence of Lidia's vagina. After she felt that wetness, she released the left breast, and began to do the same thing with Lidia's right breast, biting down gently and sucking on it.

After she was finished, she laid down on the soft ground, allowing Lidia to have her turn. Since Octavia went for her breasts, Lidia decided to go for a different part of her body. And so, she laid herself next to Octavia, and began to kiss her belly. Octavia began to slightly moan too, which made Lidia want even more, and began to caress her belly with her tongue. "Oh, Lidia." Octavia whispered quietly. Lidia then moved to the core of her belly, the belly-button. She put her mouth over it, and began to move her tongue inside of it. Octavia couldn't keep herself under control for 1 minute, and she, herself, began to get 'wet'.

When Lidia was done with pleasing Octavia, the 2 kissed once again, this time was broken by Lidia, who just wanted to spend a couple of seconds to lay on Octavia and stare at her beautiful blue eyes and admire what she had desired for so long. "I've never really given my body to somebody for this kind of stuff." Octavia confessed while looking into Lidia's red passionate eyes.

"Not even to Arawn?" Lidia questioned. Octavia shook her head, and Lidia once again got a sly smirk on her face. "Then I know just what we are going to do next." she whispered. She then kissed Octavia gently on the forehead, and told her to wait where she was. She got up, and made her way towards a sort of pole that had its bottom stuck into the ground. She grabbed the middle of the pole, and began to pull as hard as she could to try to get it out, but it would not budge. Being the very persistent woman she was, she continued to tug, but to no avail. When she was getting tired of the earth refusing to let Octavia and Lidia have the ultimate pleasure, she had grabbed her sword, and skillfully swung at the pole, cutting the pole so that the stuck part was now only 1 cm. She grabbed what she had cut off, and made her way to Octavia, and explained what they were to do.

"You know Lidia, there are Amazons out here. Do you think they would enjoy the show if they were watching us?" Octavia asked with a sexy smirk on her face.

Lidia, moaning as she put her end of the pole into her vagina, replied, "If they did enjoy it so far, they'll love this part." After she had her end inside her, she placed the other end into Octavia's vagina, as if they were having sex with any man. They began to thrust into the pole, moaning in pleasure as they did, but trying to keep quite just in case there was a danger around.

They both continued to thrust back and forth, moaning louder and louder as the pole began to go deeper and deeper into the 2 women. It came to the point where the pole was barely even their, and when they did thrust inward, their wet vaginas would come in contact with each other. They tried to keep themselves quite most of the night, but when their vaginas began to touch every time they thrust, they couldn't hold it in any longer. They simultaneously began to scream wildly with pleasure, as if they were trying to get the attention of every single Amazon in the forest.

"Octavia! Octavia!" Lidia screamed out to her lover as they showed their love for each other.

Likewise, Octavia was screaming, "Lidia! Lidia!"

The 2 continued to please each other, screaming with the sensation as they did it, until finally, they hit the top point of pleasure. They both stopped thrusting into the pole, and panted hardly as they both got an orgasm. Their fluids shot out of them, and covered the pole. It went everywhere on their bodies, from knees to breasts. "D-did we just-" Octavia began, and Lidia nodded to her for a response.

The 2 began to kiss once again, but this one was full of passion all the other kisses failed to give out. After kissing for 10 more seconds, they simply laid there, Lidia on top, embracing each other. "I love you. I love you. I love you." Lidia panted over and over again.

"I love you too." Octavia whispered quietly. Their fun had completely drained them of their energy, and the 2 couldn't even take the rod-like thing out of themselves until they fell into their sleep.

XXX

"You say they went into TrapFoot Jungle to pursue you?" I asked as I sat on my throne, impatiently tapping my fingers on the arm rest.

"I made sure that Arthur had no other choice but to rely on 3 of the best swordsmen in the kingdom to get this all done." the thief said. He shot a toothy grin that made me want to tape his mouth shut. His teeth were a shade of yellow, and even when I was at least 4 feet away, his breath reeked of ale and beer.

I was to the very least pleased with the fact that he set my plan into motion, but the fact that they went to a place where everyone rarely escapes, that irked me somewhat. "…Very well then. You may leave when you see fit."

"Uhp! Ah, ah, ah." he dared to say to me, wagging his index finger while he did it. "I'll be taking my pay first, your highness."

"Really?" I replied. "Well, I said I wanted them alive, so if even one doesn't come out of there in their tip-top shape, I'll make sure you suffer more than you earn! Until then, I'll keep you updated. Commander!" I shouted. Then came the commander that I had placed to serve in my army, my one and only perfect being in my entire army. "Throw this thief into the holding cell. If my plans go exactly as planned, give him 3x the amount that I would have originally given him. If even one of them doesn't make it out alive, see to it that the executioner can schedule an appointment."

"The holding cell?!" the thief shouted as the commander began to drag him away. "Wait a minute! This isn't part of our deal!" Quite frankly, I would have thought he would be happy that I was giving him a chance to earn triple what he would have gotten in the first place.

As I sat there in my comfy old throne, a creation of mine walked in with my food, placed the plate in my hand, bowed, and left. It was one of my favorites, ham with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a big piece of chocolate cream pie for my desert, just as I ordered. I took my spoon out and filled my mouth full of the mashed potatoes and gravy. Afterwards, I take a big gulp out of my grape soda, and look at the little TV screen that showed me what went on in that world. "Soon, you will see things the way I do, and when you do… you'll come over to the right side."

Who could this person be?

Why does he want to ensure Octavia, Lidia, and Lidio's safety in the Jungle?

What does he mean, 'see things the way I do'?

Note: The 'Woohoo' part was inspired by… um… I think Jonouchi Katsuya, but that story of his obviously isn't on this site anymore, so what a damn shame.

Q: Tell me one of your favorite Fanfics on this site.

Lidio: Yeah, so he can see what a bunch of you other losers with no life do to be better than him.

P.M: Shut up! I mean it! I didn't have to create you, and I can kill you!

Q2: Do you think Lidio and I are ever gonna get along?


End file.
